Is country music cleaning up its act?
Country music and alcohol have a long history together. Whether it’s beer, whiskey, tequila or moonshine, alcohol has long served as the creative muse – or despised villain – in some of country’s greatest songs.
But aside from being the subject of the music, country artists open have their own stories with alcohol. While you see many artists openly drinking on stage, many others have been open about their struggles with alcohol over the years. From the early days with Hank Williams to legends like George Jones and modern superstars like Tim McGraw, many country artists have been open about their struggles caused by drinking and their battle with alcohol.
There are plenty of modern country artists who have given up drinking altogether. For some it may not have been because it was a problem but rather just a choice to live a healthier lifestyle. Others admit that they were heading down a dangerous path and knew it was time to quit. But at a time when drinking is at a record-low, with only 54% of Americans now reporting that they consume alcohol, deciding to go sober is a phenomenon that we’re seeing more and more from country artists.
Here are 25 country artists who don’t drink alcohol:
Evan Felker (Turnpike Troubadours)
The lead singer of Turnpike Troubadours has been open about his struggles with alcohol, which led to the band going on an indefinite hiatus back in 2019. When Turnpike announced their return in 2021, Felker called sobriety “the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
Jo Dee Messina
The famous ’90s country singer called it quits after checking into rehab in 2004, after an eye opening rough performance at a party following the Super Bowl that year. She’s been sober ever since.
BJ Barham (American Aquarium)
The American Aquarium frontman recently celebrated 11 years of sobriety, which he credits with allowing him to finally find his true voice as a songwriter.
Margo Price
2020 was a brutal year for all of us, and particularly for Margo Price. The social climate began taking a toll on her, leading to excessive drinking. She eventually realized she needed to quit for good.
Ashley McBryde
McBryde kept her sobriety under wraps for about a year until she was sure it would “stick,” but she’s since celebrated three years alcohol-free, over 1,000 days, and as Ashley puts it, “1,000 drunk ‘I’m sorry’s’ I didn’t have to say.” In fact, she even has her own non-alcoholic focused bar, Redemption, located inside Eric Church’s Chief’s in Nashville.
Tim McGraw
The “Live Like You Were Dying” singer credits his wife, Faith Hill, with finally encouraging him to go to rehab in 2008:
“I wouldn’t just have a drink. If I was going to drink, I’d have some drinks. People were worried about me. It was to the point where I felt it was negatively affecting my relationships and getting in the way of things I wanted to accomplish in life…
Faith saved my life in a lot of ways – from myself more than anything. I can go down a dark road sometimes, when you’re not feeling good about yourself, and she pulls me out.”
Now, instead of drinking before his shows, he’s flipping tires in the parking lot.
Josh Turner
Unlike many others on the list, the “Long Black Train” singer isn’t one who gave up alcohol because he was struggling with it. In fact, he’s never had a drink in his life.
Chris Janson
Despite songs like “Fix A Drink” and “Power Of Positive Drinkin,'” Chris Janson quit drinking when he met his wife, Kelly, and never looked back. He explains the journey in detail about his struggles until he met his wife in his 2015 song “Holdin’ Her.”
Tyler Childers
Tyler announced back in 2020, along with the release of his fiddle album, Long Violent History, that he had been sober for 6 months, and he has been sober since.
Charles Kelley (Lady A)
The co-frontman of Lady A officially kickstarted his journey to sobriety back in August 2022 when they announced the cancellation of their tour. Since then, Kelley opened up about his decision in the Hulu docuseries It’s All Country, revealing that his wife had made plans to meet with a divorce attorney before he decided to go to rehab.
Jesse Daniel
The rising Texas country star is very open about his sobriety journey, and celebrated his eigth anniversary of being completely drug and alcohol-free earlier this year.
Brantley Gilbert
The “Bottoms Up” singer often likes to joke that he decided to get sober when he realized that he was allergic to alcohol – because he would break out in handcuffs. He credits a visit from Keith Urban with convincing him that he was making the right decision:
“I told him, I don’t think I can do my job. I don’t know if I can ever play a song at my shows without being messed up. Or writing, I was worried my songs wouldn’t be the same, that I wouldn’t be on everyone else’s level. It’s a drinking environment…
If it weren’t for him, I don’t know if I’d be sober or be in this business anymore. I’d probably be dead.”
Keith Urban
The advice that Urban gave to Brantley Gilbert came from a place of personal experience. Urban credits his then-wife, Nicole Kidman, with staging an intervention in 2006 and forcing him to rehab. His 2009 album Defying Gravity included a song, “Thank You,” which expressed his gratitude towards Kidman for helping him get sober.
Joe Nichols
The “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” singer recently reflected on his decision to get sober, admitting that his drinking had gotten out of control:
“It was hardcore. A gallon or two of whiskey a day, at least. And that went on for years, and you can imagine the craziness that comes along with that. So I’ve done a lot of years of apologizing, you know, and kind of repairing a lot of my reputation with friends.”
But he’s since celebrated seven years without alcohol, crediting God with finally being able to find sobriety:
“Seven years ago, drank my last drink. Seven years. And if you knew me, October 1st and before 2018, you would not believe that. That is just a very unlikely thing to ever happen.
So when we talk about God showing, up I could not do that myself. I tried to quit drinking many, many times. Every physical thing, every barrier I could put in my life, I did to keep myself from drinking, and I just couldn’t or wouldn’t. And man, one day, with the suggestion of another person, I really truly got on my knees and and I asked God to remove whatever this is in my brain that will not let me function without thinking about drinking.”
Jason Isbell
The “Cover Me Up” singer has been very open about his past struggles with alcohol, and admits that putting the bottle down was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
Morgan Wade
Morgan opened up with her journey to sobriety back in 2023, admitting that mental health struggles would lead her to turn to alcohol:
“I drank more than I’ve ever drank in my life. I remember a hangover that lasted for a couple weeks. I was so depressed, I didn’t think I was going to make it out of that.”
And she says that giving up alcohol was a “big defining moment” for her:
“Everything’s changed for me. Obviously I still make mistakes and screw up, but I’m like all right, at least I remember what I did, and I can not do it again.”
Trace Adkins
The “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” singer has had multiple stints in rehab. But it was his latest one, back in 2014, that finally convinced Adkins to get sober for good. And while many artists blame Nashville or the industry for feeling forced to drink, Adkins admits that his problem with alcohol, which resulted in a fight on a cruise ship and a divorce, was entirely self-inflicted:
“I’m not one of those guys that says that there are any outside circumstances, or influences, or powers that can make me do anything. If I drink, it’ll be because I want to drink. It wasn’t because I felt tempted or pressured.”
Walker Hayes
The “Fancy Like” singer has been sober for nearly a decade. But before that, he admitted that he was driving around with a handle of vodka in his car that would go into everything he drank before finally realizing that he was an alcoholic:
“I woke up, and physically, I’ve never felt like this before. It wasn’t even a hangover. It just felt like if I start again today and do this, I might die.”
Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts)
The Rascal Flatts guitarist is three years sober, after crashing his car into a tree in 2021 and later pleading guilty to DUI.
Shay Mooney (Dan + Shay)
One half of Dan + Shay, Mooney is another artist who credits his wife, Hannah, with helping him get sober back in 2023:
“She was so patient with me, knowing that she couldn’t be like, ‘Shay, you got to stop drinking so much.’ Because I would’ve been like, ‘Oh, yeah. Well, I’m going to drink more.’ She knew it was this thing where I had to get to that place on my own.”
Jon Pardi
Pardi revealed back in 2023 that he had recently decided to go sober after his doctor told him that he was pre-diabetic:
“I was really getting to the point where every picture, every video I was so unhappy with myself. And where I was going, I needed to just take a break.”
Cody Jinks
Jinks admits there are large chunks of his career that he doesn’t remember, but he does recall the day he knew he needed to give up alcohol for good:
“August 9th, 2023. My kids saw me fall down drunk for the last time, actually. I never drank again. I woke up the next day and I was like, ‘This is a problem.’ Cold turkey, right in the middle of a tour, I went back out on the road. I had to learn how to stay sober on a tour bus, I took my first plane ride sober when I was 43. Did my first show sober, everything, recorded my first song sober.”
Brad Paisley
Although Brad Paisley had a massive hit with a song paying tribute to “Alcohol,” he’s publicly confirmed that he’s actually sober – despite getting stopped for DUI back in 2011, when he wasn’t drunk but rather distracted and swerving.
Jake Owen
Owen admits that he was “an a–hole” when he was drinking, and knew it was time to make a change – so he decided to give up alcohol, and recently celebrated four years sober.
Shania Twain
The Queen of Pop Country’s decision to refrain from alcohol isn’t because she’s struggled with it in the past: She just prefers to live a clean lifestyle, and chooses to surround herself with others, including in her band, who do the same.
