We all love the song “Friends in Low Places” as it is Garth Brooks’ signature song but not many people know how it was written. The song is the anthem for drinking songs and, ironically, the concept of the song started in a bar.

In 1989, songwriters Earl Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell were having lunch one day at a local eatery in Nashville, named “Tavern on the Row”, when Lee soon realized that he had forgotten his money somewhere and could not pay the tab. He was asked how he was going to pay for the meal, and his response was “Don’t worry, I have friends in low places”, as he knew one of the cooks in the kitchen.

This sparked the concept for the tune and was partially written in the eatery on a napkin. In 2020, Brooks revealed just how much of the song was written there during the country radio seminar. According to Brooks, Blackwell wrote “Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots, and ruined your black-tie affair…” It is not known if he was, in fact, wearing boots, but one can just imagine that being plausible, given where they were.

Blackwell then slid the napkin to Lee, who wrote “The last one to know, the last one to show, I was the last on you thought you’d see there”. It is very interesting that the famous intro to the song was written in a bar and was very fluid.

The idea of the song was not explored again until the two songwriters were at an event to celebrate another person’s hit single. They began to think about the lyrics they had written and began to fully write the song on paper napkins once again.

Prior to his debut, the two songwriters had met Brooks when he was working as a shoe salesman. They got to know each other and wrote some demos for him before he got his first record deal.

After some time of polishing the lyrics, Brooks was contacted by the two in hopes of recording a demo. By this time, his debut album was already scheduled for a release. However, Brooks convinced Blackwell and Lee to hold the song for him, and they agreed.

During the demo, Brooks’ guitarist went on to name the bar mentioned in the song “The Oasis” after a bar in his hometown of Concordia, Kansas. The actual recording of the song took place at Windwalker Studios in Goodlettsiville, TN.

At the end of the song, there are backing vocals that consist of a group made up by Brooks and his then-wife, Blackwell, and Lee, to make a rowdy crowd noise behind the main vocals. Interestingly, the sound of a beer can that was opened during this part of the song was mistaken for an audio glitch in post-production. Also, you can hear someone yell “Push Marie” in the background, giving reference to a wife of the guitarist who was in labor at the time.

The song would eventually be the lead single from the “No Fences” album and become Brooks’ third #1 hit, reaching the top spot of the charts on October 6, 1990. It also won single of the year at both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association awards.

The song was also recorded and released by Mark Chesnutt a month later for his “Too Cold at Home” album.