TS: George Jones, White Lightning" versus Roger Miller, "Chug-a-Lug"

Also please recommend any other great classic country odes to moonshine whiskey, bathtub gin, etc.

Beware on Spotify - both these guys have like a million bad re-recordings of their hits....

Just learned "White Lightning" was written by the Big Bopper! Also, Wiki reports:

In his 1997 autobiography, I Lived To Tell It All, Jones mentions the fact that the recording process of "White Lightning" was rather extremely lengthy and further elaborates on why it lasted so long. Jones arrived for the recording session under the influence of a great deal of alcohol and it took him approximately 80 takes just to record his vocals to the record producer's satisfaction. To make matters worse, Buddy Killen, who played the upright bass on the recording, was reported as having severely blistered fingers from having to play his bass part 80 times. Killen not only threatened to quit the session, but also threatened to physically harm Jones for the painful consequences of Jones' drinking.[1]

Chug-a-Lug doesn't, to my knowledge, have any such backstory, and it's a somewhat less riotous performance, but I like the variety of scenarios ol' Roger comes up with, plus some great turns of phrase as always. Love the scene-setting in each verse: "Grape wine in a mason jar," "4-H and'a FFA," "Jukebox and a sawdust floor." Love this guy.

King of the POLLed: Roger Miller Singles
Ranking the Rogers
OPO: George Jones
where is the love for George Jones?
Best George Jones #1 Hit
"White Lightning"/"Who Shot Sam"

Have to go with White Lightning.

It's pretty easy to find great country songs featuring drinking, getting drunk, feeling sorry for oneself, missing her etc. Not quite as easy to find the odes to alcohol.

George Jones: The King Is Gone (http://youtu.be/Jc08gY8wfVc). It's mentioned on one of the threads but it's all-time...

Jerry Jeff Walker: Sangria Wine (http://youtu.be/oAsJqRJuQ-4)

Progressively warming up more and more to "White Lightning." Mighty mighty PLEASin', Pappy's CORN squeezin' is a pretty great rhyme, and George's impression of the drinker is less cartoonish, more like an actual take on what it feels like to take a swig of unexpectedly potent corn whiskey. But, hey, I like cartoonish too and nobody does that better than Roger.