George Birge joins The Ty Bentli Show on Apple Music to share his incredible journey from viral TikTok hitmaker to his major label debut. Listen to the episode in-full anytime on-demand here.
George Birge on the life-changing advice Clay Walker gave him
“He’s like, ‘Man, I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do.’ And I’m expecting this life changing advice because it’s Clay Walker, right? This guy’s conquered the world. And so, I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting for Clay Walker to change my life here. And he goes, ‘You need to put your songs on TikTok.’ … I create this account, and the first video I see… says Men and Country Music. And she goes on to say that country music ain’t nothing but beer, beer, truck, truck, and girls in tight jeans. And I was already in a great head space from writing all week with Clay. And for whatever reason, I’ve never done this before, I’ve never written a response song or posted anything like this. I felt compelled to show her that, “Hey, I could take a lyric as mundane as this and turn it into something cool, because in country music, we really can write songs. And so, I spent maybe 30 minutes just writing a verse and a chorus. I posted it, and we go to dinner. I think I had six followers when we went to dinner. And we come back from dinner three hours later, and have 20,000 followers. And I’m like, “Clay, you’re a genius, man. This is the best advice I’ve ever gotten.”
George Birge on deciding to write a full song from a response to a TikTok comment
“[I thought] man, I’ve really got myself in a pickle because I’m going to be forced to release a song called “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck” with my name on it. And I better make sure this thing is worth it. And so, I sat down and I finished it, and ended up posting a demo of it. And it ended up doing almost 3 million views in 24 hours, and then every record label in town was calling my phone.”
George Birge on giving songwriter credit to a stranger who inspired his hit
“I reached out to her as soon as I did the first post that went viral. I just sent her a direct message and I was like, ‘Hey, just wanted you to know, I did this funny little thing. I wrote a song with your lyrics.’ And then I sent her an ASCAP link to that stuff, and I was like, “You should make a profile, so you can be a songwriter on this.’ And she did. And then, all of a sudden, the thing just starts taking off, and we start doing interviews together. And I start getting to meet her and know her a little bit. And it turns out, she was a country music fan growing up. And she said that the song gave her a ton of nostalgia, and that she loved it. Then I come to find out that she was an elementary school music teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina. And we ended up getting to be friends. And she actually just sent me a text about a month ago, saying that she just got her first royalty check. So, that was really fun for me to see her coming along in the ride with us.”
