Behind The Song ACM Awards Edition: Chris Janson 'Buy Me a Boat'

By Brian Ives, Radio.com

One of the new names in country music who started to to get traction in 2015 was Chris Janson, a singer songwriter who has written songs for Hank Williams Jr and Tim McGraw, among others. But his song "Buy Me a Boat," brought him to a wider audience, and is nominated for Single Record of the Year at this weekend's ACM Awards.

Janson recently spoke about the song to Radio.com: "Look, I have lived on both sides of the fence on that one. [Money] can’t buy happiness — I found that out — but it can buy a good time. And a good time to me is: boats, Yetis, trucks. Money."

"When I started out in the honky-tonks at Tootsie’s in Nashville ten years ago, when I started in the music business… I know what it’s like to be struggling for rent. I literally was living in the backseat of a two-door Monte Carlo and crashing on couches when I could find one. So I know what it’s like to be dead-a– broke, and just be skimping by to make rent, barely have any gas to get to the gig and stuff. I know what it’s like."

But he's surprised that it's been his breakout hit: "When we wrote that song, I wasn’t trying to ever get on the radio; I wasn’t trying to sell records; I wasn’t trying to do anything. I had no agenda other than just writing something that I liked and liked the sound of. I just write things that I know, live, walk, talk. Things that I can tell people about if they ask and try not to make it hokey, just make it kinda real deal."

"So I’ve lived in both sets of shoes, so to speak. I know what it’s like to have no money and then have some money. I’m nowhere near rich; I damn sure wanna be. Like really."

Tune in to the ACMs on CBS on Sunday at 8 pm ET / 7 pm CT  to see if "Buy Me a Boat" wins Best Single Record.