This Week’s Backstage Country Host: Billy Currington

Fresh from releasing his latest album, King of the World, Billy Currington will join Elaina Smith for a week of stories and good country music on Backstage Country.   

Smith and Currington talked about his song, “Good Directions,” which not many fans knew was penned by Luke Bryan. Currington shared that he met Bryan, who was writing for different publishing companies at the time: “I'd run into him, and I knew he was trying to get a record deal in the whole thing I was doing at the time. But he was pitching his songs. So that was one I was sent and went to record it. I did record it, put it on the album, and put the album out. About two singles in the album, we were getting ready to put it out for our third. I get a call like, ‘Hey man, can you not put this song out?’”  

He revealed that Bryan wanted to put the song out himself: “I was like, ‘Man, it's already in motion.’ But I think had he put it out as his first single, it would have been more massive. His demo of the song is great.” He added that the track is also one of his favorite songs to sing live.  

Since his song “Do I Make You Wanna” is about to celebrate its 10-year anniversary of going No. 1, Smith asked how he celebrates his songs topping the charts. Currington replied that he’s always thankful and that he loves to get his friends and everyone involved to celebrate and express his gratitude: “There was always a bigger team than just one person involved in this number one. ‘Do I Make You Wanna’ was just one of those.” He chucked, “Actually, we've never celebrated this song. We've never had a number one party for this song.” Smith quipped it needed to happen for the song’s tenth anniversary.  

Currington knew from the beginning that “People Are Crazy” is a special song. The track, released more than a decade ago, currently has 261 million views on YouTube. He said of the song, “I actually heard it from my friend Terry. I don't know, they didn't pay much attention to it. But it was later on when I was given a CD by this guy. And he's like ‘Here, man, listen to these songs this guy dropped them off today, and I ain't got a chance to hear him.’”  

He continued, “The first song that played was ‘People Are Crazy,' and the next one that played was ‘Pretty Good at Drinking Beer.’ I called Brian up. I wasn't even 10, 15 minutes down the road. And I was like, ‘Bro, you might want to check these songs out.’ So, he did. We all agreed that for sure ‘People Are Crazy’ and ‘Pretty Good at Drinking Beer’ were the ones.”  

Stay connected with Currington for the latest news and music by following him on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.