Country music has a lot of songs about drinking, but not all country singers imbibe. In fact, there are several artists who have given up drinking entirely, in spite of what they might sing about. We picked four of our favorite country music singers who are proudly sober.
Videos by Wide Open Country
1. Keith Urban
Keith Urban has been sober since 2006, when he entered the Betty Ford Center only a few months after marrying Nicole Kidman.
"All through the years of drinking and doing drugs and all the rest of it, I always had this very specific voice inside of me that goes, 'One day, you're gonna come to a crossroads or a fork in the road, and it'll be the final one,'" Urban tells Zane Lowe. That moment came when Kidman staged an intervention for him.
"I knew that was it," Urban shares. "I'm like, 'Oh, this is that fork in the road.'"
Urban's father was an alcoholic. He opens up about that experience in his song, "Break the Chain," from his HIGH album.
2. Charles Kelley
Charles Kelley just celebrated three years of being sober. The Lady A singer flew to rehab from a vacation with his wife, Cassie, in 2022. At the time, he thought he might have already lost his marriage to his addiction. Kelley's angst comes out in "Can't Lose You." The song is from his solo album, Songs For A New Moon, out now.
"I went to treatment for a month in Utah, and I really didn't know if I was ever going to be coming back home to my bed," Charles tells People. "And that was tough ... She's the reason that I got sober. She had so much grace for me and went along through the journey with me doing all the work, and I could go so far as to say there's no way she would've stayed with me if I had not gotten sober."
3. Ashley McBryde
Ashley McBryde also got sober in 2022, after a painful memory that opened McBryde's eyes to how detrimental her addiction was becoming.
"Today marks 3 years since my last drink," McBryde shares in June. "My last time being 'that guy' in my social and professional circles. The last panicked phone call for help. The final slip up that caused the intervention from those that love me and the shift in me allowing me to say 'that's enough.' The details are known by those who are deserving of such painful information."
"Gratitude is the guiding light today," she continues. "Grief is okay. A version of me had to die off so I could become myself. I have love for her and every other version of me that had to exist so I could stand by this waterfall today."
" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;margin: 1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:99.375%;width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px);width:calc(100% - 2px)">4. Brantley Gilbert
Brantley Gilbert has been sober since 2011, but he isn't taking all of the credit for his sobriety. In fact, Gilbert says it was Urban who convinced him he could still be an artist, without drinking.
"Keith Urban became a friend of mine in a time when I was making a transition in life," Gilbert says. "I honestly don't know if I'd be sitting in this room if it weren't for that man, and him taking time out of his life to come talk to me. It was a time when I'd stopped drinking and stopped doing some other things, and was just kind of unsure about moving forward. And he, again, took time out of his life and talked to me, and I'll never forget that as long as I live. So that just wasn't in music, it was in life."
Gilbert no longer drinks, but he doesn't mind singing about it. He recently had a hit single, "Over When We're Sober," with Ashley Cooke.
