It remains one of his very best songs… so of course, it won’t surprise you to know that Chris Stapleton was involved.
Luke Bryan released his hit song “Drink A Beer” in 2013 as the third single from his fourth studio album, Crash My Party, and ultimately became his seventh number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Bryan has talked a lot about how personal it was to him because of the loss of his own family tragedies in losing both his brother, Chris, and sister, Kelly,
Chris wrote it with Jim Beavers, and this was obviously long before he was the Chris Stapleton we all know and love today. Stapleton’s career blew up not long after the song was released, and you can hear him singing background vocals on the album cut, and he also sang with Bryan during a 2013 CMA Awards performance of the song.
During an interview with Billboard, Bryan opened up about some of his biggest hits, and when he watched part of the video from that CMA Awards performance, he joked:
“I’m the second best singer on the stage right there.”
As almost any artist alive would be…
Bryan explained that he, along with many others in Nashville, knew Stapleton was a star, and they had been praying that people would figure out what an incredible artist he was. So when he got the chance to have Chris sing with him at the CMA Awards, he was “really happy” to get to share that moment with him.
Bryan also called “Drink A Beer” his “best top bottom song ever,” and it gave fans a completely new look inside his depth and what he could do as an artist:
“I mean, I would say undoubtably probably my best top bottom song ever. I think at the time, I was known as the up-tempo really energetic, high energy party guy, and so when I put ‘Drink A Beer’ out, it just really showed another depth of my artistry.
I could have a very impactful song, with a deep subject matter, and the coolest aspect about it is Jim beavers and Chris Stapleton wrote it. And at the time, the Nashville songwriting community, we were really, we were praying that the world would learn about Chris Stapleton the artist, not just a songwriter.
And so when I had the opportunity to perform ‘Drink A Beer’ at CMA‘s, I called Chris, that was like maybe the year before him and Justin Timberlake had their moment. The bottom line is, I was just really happy to share that moment with Chris.”
In terms of why it resonated so deeply with the country audience, that’s pretty simple:
“The lyrics of that song, the emotion of that song, spoke to a country audience as good as you can speak to a country audience. I mean, drinking a beer with a loved one, and drinking a beer to remember somebody…”
In addition, many fans knew his own personal story with the loss of both of his siblings, so it was incredibly authentic and real for him, and that came through effortlessly:
“Obviously, with me losing my brother and my sister, and obviously sharing some beer, I didn’t get a chance to have enough beers with them. Certainly my brother passing away at such a younger age, but yeah, I mean that song really spoke to me.
I think people had learned about my story with my loss, and so when that song came into my life, it seemed really, really authentic, and I think people could really go man, this guy has lived it.’ And I think a lot of the listeners felt that they were able to heal… they were able to take that song and heal also.”
When people think of Luke Bryan, I think songs like “Play It Again,” “Country Girl (Shake It For Me),” “That’s My Kind of Night” and “Crash My Party” come to mind right away, but in terms of the best music in his catalog, I tend to agree with him that “Drink A Beer” is at or very close to the top of the list.
It’s cool to watch the 2013 CMA Awards performance now, knowing how Stapleton’s career was about to blow up, and thankfully, Bryan’s prayers were answered because the world discovered Chris Stapleton and he’s one of the biggest artists in music.
Check it out:
Speaking of the CMA Awards, the show will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the show when it airs on Wednesday, November 18th live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at 8:00 PM EST with Lainey Wilson hosting.
Chris Stapleton is tied as the most-nominated male artist, securing four nominations for Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Musical Event of the Year for “A Song to Sing” with Miranda Lambert, Music Video of the Year for “White Horse”
The full interview with Luke Bryan is available below.
