George Jones
This is George Jones turning the mythology of his own drinking and unreliability into black comedy, imagining his own death and…
alcoholism mortality self-mythology
Built to Spill
A woozy meditation on childhood perception, drinking, and loneliness, built around the image of the Big Dipper as an unreliable…
perception vs. reality loneliness alcohol and self-deception
Margo Price
A breakup song built around a single, escalating image: the narrator drinking hard enough to kill off her own conscience so…
heartbreak and self-destruction alcohol as anesthetic hardened self-protection
Uncle Tupelo
A dedication-turned-elegy for the defeated, this early Uncle Tupelo track surveys small-town despair and quietly asks whether…
small-town despair alcohol as coping mechanism spiritual exhaustion