Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! Today is part two of my "Story Behind the Song" series with a massive hit from Garth Brooks, "Friends in Low Places."

The song was written by Earl Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell in 1989, after they decided to skip church one Sunday to go out drinking. When Earl went to pay his tab, he discovered he left his money at home. When asked how he was going to pay his tab, Earl said not to worry because he had friends in low places, referring to his friend who was the chef at the restaurant.

A while later, Earl and Dewayne went to an industry event, and they began jotting down lyrics that would soon become "Friends in Low Places" after being inspired by the "black tie affair" they were attending.

After completing the song, they asked Garth Brooks to sing the demo, which he did. However, the song got stuck in Garth's head for two weeks straight after recording the demo. He had yet to release his debut album, so he knew it would be over a year until his second album would come out, but Earl and Dewayne agreed to put the song on hold for his sophomore album, "No Fences."

However, Garth was not the only country star to record the song. About a month after Garth released it, Mark Chesnutt also released a version on his album "Too Cold at Home." Mark never released it as a radio single, which allowed Garth to have a massive hit with the song that led to it becoming a country music anthem and the song Garth is known for.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back soon with part three of this series which will be highlighting one of the earliest country music recordings. Stay tuned!