"Cowboy Songs" is more than another love song. The track, which has cracked the top 30 of the country charts, was inspired by Kenny Chesney's music and George Birge's earlier years in his hometown of Austin, Texas.
"I had been inspired by some of those kind of like fever dream-style Kenny Chesney songs where you're seeing this girl and [wondering], 'Is she a vision?' 'Is she real life?' And [Kenny's song] 'El Cerrito Place,'" George tells ABC Audio.
He recalls, "I channeled some of those smoky dive bar nights that I spent early in Austin with Xs on my hand as a young country singer, and seeing a cowgirl across the bar, and she's in her boots, in her jeans, kind of dangerous. You want to talk to her but you probably don't got a chance."
"I figured 'she only dances to cowboy songs,'" George says, quoting a lyric from the chorus of "Cowboy Songs." "And so I wrote a song like a fever dream country cowboy song about that kind of night."
You can find "Cowboy Songs" on George's latest EP of the same name, out now.
The "Mind on You" singer is currently on the road opening for Sam Hunt and Luke Bryan on their respective tours. For tickets, head to georgebirge.com.