Format Music download Length 4:03 | Genre Country Label BNA | |
Released May 31, 2011 (2011-05-31) Writer(s) Matraca Berg
Deana Carter | ||
"You and Tequila" is a song co-written by Matraca Berg and Deana Carter. It was recorded by Kenny Chesney for his 2010 album Hemingway's Whiskey, from which it was released in May 2011 as the fourth single. Chesney's version of the song features a guest vocal from Grace Potter, lead singer of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. on November 30, the song received two nominations in 54th Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
Contents
Background and writing
Deana Carter and Matraca Berg co-wrote the song, and both recorded their own versions: Carter on her 2003 album I'm Just a Girl, and Berg on her 2011 album The Dreaming Fields.
Carter told the music website Taste of Country that Berg was inspired to write the song after having been out on the town. According to Carter, the two began talking about relationships, when Carter said, "Yeah, it's just like men… they get in your blood!" Also, Carter added several references to California, because she was living there at the time.
Chesney first heard the song when he and Carter toured together in 2003. He said that he identified with it more after he rented a house in Malibu, California, and chose to record "You and Tequila" because it reminded him of driving the Pacific Coast Highway. He also told National Public Radio host David Green that "there are some commonalities about getting someone out of your mind and drinking and trying to quit."
Song information
Chesney and Potter's version of the song is set in the musical key of F♯ major with a vocal range from F♯3 to D♯5. The main chord pattern is F♯5-F♯/A♯-Bsus2-F♯5.
Critical reception
Chesney's version of the song has received positive reviews. Chris Talbott of the Associated Press called it a "melancholy love-hate song", and an uncredited review in HitFix called the song "exquisite" and one of Chesney's "career high notes". Bobby Peacock of Roughstock rated the song four-and-a-half stars out of five, praising Chesney's and Potter's vocals and the "understated simplicity" of the lyrics. Bill Friskics-Warren of The Washington Post thought that the song had an Americana influence and made the album Chesney's "most stylistically wide-ranging to date."
Music video
Potter appears in the song's music video, which was filmed in Malibu, California.