Erin Enderlin embraces the idea of not being able to please everyone in the new song “Somebody’s Shot of Whiskey,” which she released on Friday. It’s the first original music to appear from the Nashville singer-songwriter since 2019’s excellent full-length Faulkner County.
Beginning with rhythmic strums of acoustic guitar, the stripped-down arrangement of “Somebody’s Shot of Whiskey” gradually incorporates drums, bass, steel, and fiddle along with Enderlin’s vocals, retaining a looseness that feels like a living-room jam.
Enderlin, who’s written songs that were recorded by Alan Jackson and Lee Ann Womack among many others, takes a defiant stance and rattles off a list of misdeeds that she proudly owns: “Can’t make everybody happy, that’s alright with me/as long as my baby loves me from A to Z/I’d rather be somebody’s shot of whiskey/Than everybody’s cup of tea.”
Citing Emmylou Harris’ “Feeling Single, Seeing Double” and Loretta Lynn’s “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” as inspiration, Enderlin says she decided to walk the walk when it came to recording.
“I stepped out of my comfort zone with this song,” she tells Rolling Stone. “It’s the first release that I produced myself and played guitar on, which I feel like is in line with the meaning — being yourself and trusting that to be enough.”
Later this summer, Enderlin will play a series of dates on the CMT Next Women of Country Tour with Tanya Tucker, who is presently taking a few days off to recover from hip surgery.