Ronnie Dunn’s “I Wish I Still Smoked Cigarettes” Is His Most Underrated Solo Release

Happy 67th Birthday to one of the best voices in country music history.

Ronnie Dunn has had one hell of a career.

With more than 20 number ones and 27 ACMs (including 3 Entertainer Of The Year’s) as half of Brooks and Dunn, to unreal recent collaborations with Luke Combs, to his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, there’s not much he’s touched that hasn’t been pure gold.

Obviously, people are more familiar with his work as part of Brooks and Dunn, but his solo career has brought about some big success as well.

“Damn Drunk,” “Cost of Livin’,” “Bleed Red,” and “Ain’t No Trucks in Texas” are some of the most popular tracks released as part of his solo career, but my favorite never really got the recognition I believe it deserves.

“I Wish I Still Smoked Cigarettes”

Written by Luke Laird, Lori McKenna, and Barry Dean, “I Wish I Still Smoked Cigarettes” was released in 2014 on his Peace Love and Country Music album as one of the singles from the project.

It’s a song about wishing for the innocence of the glory days and the confidence that came with being young and dumb. It’s a twist on the classic wishing for the old times song and combined with Ronnie’s voice, it’s enough to make anyone, regardless of where they’re at now, long for their youth again.

“Wish I still did a lot of things I don’t do anymore
When I didn’t know what wasn’t good for me
But I knew everything else for sure
I guess what I really miss is the freedom and
The way it felt, the innocence
That’s what I really meant
When I said
I wish I still smoked cigarettes”

And speaking of Ronnie’s voice, how about the performance of this song he did acoustic on a radio station? Coming in tired, not warmed up and still delivering like he did? Come on now, he’s pretty much unfair…

And the studio version…

A beer bottle on a dock

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A beer bottle on a dock