On The Row: George Birge Talks His Journey From Waterloo Revival To ‘Beer Beer, Truck Truck’

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George Birge. Photo: Dustin Haney

Singer-songwriter George Birge made waves this year with his tongue-in-cheek viral hit, “Beer Beer, Truck Truck.”

After Birge saw a TikTok from influencer and music educator Erynn Chambers who joked that men in country music only sing about “beer beer, truck truck, girls in tight jeans,” he was inspired to write a song in response. Thus “Beer Beer, Truck Truck” was born.

In less than 2 weeks, Smith’s demo of “Beer Beer, Truck Truck” had 2.7 million views and earned him 130k followers. In June of 2021, Records Nashville, the Music City division of Barry Weiss‘ Records, a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment, announced it had signed Birge to the roster. He released it as officially single in August, with Chambers as a co-writer.

“Basically every record label in Nashville started blowing up my phone, which was everything I prayed for. It was really surreal,” Birge said in a recent virtual visit with MusicRow

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But Birge wasn’t just another overnight TikTok sensation. The singer-songwriter first moved to Nashville as part of the country duo Waterloo Revival, and had modest success with singles “Something You Ain’t Ever Had” and “What Guy Wouldn’t” on Big Machine Records and then Show Dog Nashville. The duo announced their break up in February of 2021.

“Waterloo Revival brought me to town and was where I’ve had some of my best memories on the road,” Birge said. “But I was in a place where I wasn’t super excited with the direction I was being pushed in.

“It was a scary time because you dream your whole life of getting a record deal and then you’re sitting there with what you prayed for and it wasn’t exactly what you thought it was going to be,” Birge added about his time in Waterloo Revival. “So in the middle of last year I asked out of my record deal, without a backup plan.”

After asking out of his recording contract, Birge started to write songs for other artists, which proved to be successful for the Wide Open Music songwriter. Birge has written songs with Matt Stell, Chris Lane, Gary LeVox and Jay Demarcus, among others.

He also got pulled in to write on Clay Walker’s current single “Need A Bar Sometimes,” and “Catching Up With An Ol’ Memory,” on Walker’s latest album Texas To Tennessee.

Walker, who boasts over 1 million followers on TikTok, was the one who encouraged Birge to start taking the platform seriously. Birge remembers having a beer with Walker after the two were finished writing for the day, and coming to the country star for advice on what to do next, after he had left Waterloo Revival.

“He sat me down and said, ‘Man, I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do.’ Clay is a superstar and has been around the block, so I’m expecting some pretty profound advice. He says, ‘You need to put your songs on TikTok,'” Birge said with a laugh. “That wasn’t exactly what I was hoping to hear from Clay Walker.”

But that night Birge created a TikTok account and saw Chambers’ video that spawned “Beer Beer, Truck Truck.” The rest is history.

Now, with a new record deal and a viral hit under his belt, Birge is releasing more music. His newest song, “Mind On You,” was released today (Nov. 5). Co-written by Birge along with Jaron Boyer, Michael Tyler and Colt Ford, and produced by Ash Bowers, “Mind On You” almost wasn’t recorded by Birge.

“I thought it could be a big hit for Jason Aldean, so I sent it to his producer Michael Knox. About 24 hours later I got an email saying, ‘Hey, don’t play this song for anyone else. We’re taking it,'” Birge said.

However, once Birge signed to Records Nashville, executive Barry Weiss told him he should cut the song. “With my tail tucked between my legs I asked for the song back,” Birge said. “I cannot say enough about how gracious that camp was. They gave me the song back and were so excited for my story.”

Birge’s “Mind On You” is available on all streaming platforms now.

LB Cantrell
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