Lee Brice on The Stories Behind Three ‘Sunriser’ Songs

While co-hosting Backstage Country, Lee Brice walked John Shomby through the stories behind three songs from the record: “Never Meet Your Heroes,” “Me and Whiskey,” and “Dogs Are Barking.”

“Never Meet Your Heroes” immediately grabbed Brice because of its title and its story.

Brice didn't write the song, but he said he heard it and immediately wished he had. The track has a personal connection for him because the hero referenced in the song is his grandfather. “But after I recorded, I was like, ‘I'm gonna go do a Vince Gill little electric guitar behind it, real simple, real subtle, real beautiful. And then I thought... Well, Vince Gill is literally one of my biggest heroes. I wonder if he would come play it?” he shared.

Brice called Gill and asked whether he would contribute guitar. “I said, ‘Hey, Vince.’ He goes, ‘Hey, Lee.’ I said, ‘Buddy, I got this song, and I was just curious if you would come, maybe play some guitar or if I could come to you, whatever. Maybe just appear on this song with me,’ you know? And he said, ‘Yeah, I'll do it.’”

Brice chuckled, “I said, ‘Well, okay. You want me to tell you about the song?’ He's like, ‘No.’ And I said, ‘Well, you haven't heard it.’ He says, ‘Lee, I love you. I've seen your music so much over the years, and I respect you, and I can guarantee you it's going to be beautiful.’”

“Me and Whiskey” takes a completely different approach.

Brice revealed that the entire song incorporates nursery rhymes, including familiar phrases that were tweaked to match the track. The innocent childhood references take on a very different meaning when dropped into a country drinking song.

“This is the cool thing about this song,” Brice said. “When we were writing it, it's all these nursery rhymes, but they are obviously worked in a different way, but they're obvious. If you go listen to the song, then all of a sudden you catch them all.”

He chuckled, “And so the whole song is nothing but nursery rhymes. The whole song, including the chorus, ‘Me and Whiskey sitting in a bar.’”

Shomby joked that the song "Dogs Are Barking" sounded like something that could end up on Dateline, and Brice didn't exactly disagree. He explained that he has always loved country songs that tell wild stories—the kind that unfold like miniature movies.

“When I'm writing songs, it's hard to write these story songs that are like this. But it's fun because you're getting to make up some crazy, wild thing, right? And it's fictional, but deep and heavy. It's like a movie, a short little movie. And I just wanted a song like that. And this one was it,” Brice said of the track.

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