When George Birge wrote the chorus of what became his viral hit, “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck,” he had no idea how much the few lines he shared on TikTok would change his entire life and career. The Texas native wrote the chorus in response to a comment someone made, saying country music was nothing more than songs about beer and trucks, posting it on his newly-launched TikTok account, and the rest is history.

“The first thing I did was click on the #countrymusic hashtag just because it interests me,” Birge tells Everything Nash, recalling when he first joined TikTok. “As I was scrolling through it, and I saw who I now know is Erynn Chambers. She was just kind of lightheartedly, poking fun at country music saying it ain’t nothing but beer, beer, truck, truck and girls in tight jeans. And for whatever reason, I decided that I was going to write a little chorus as a rebuttal to show her that a country songwriter, even with the most mundane lyrics, could turn it into something cool with a little bit of effort.”

Birge, who was encouraged to use TikTok by his good friend, Clay Walker, never could have anticipated how those few lines would have such an impact on his life and career.

“I actually had never posted anything on TikTok. I had to have Clay’s social media manager show me how to post on TikTok,” Birge shares. “I just did a chorus. I didn’t even write the whole song. It took me like 30 minutes. And then we went to dinner. I had like six followers. I had less than 10 followers; I was basically posting it to no one. We were at dinner for about three hours, and when we got home, I was like, ‘All right, let’s open it. See what it did.’ And in the course of those three hours, I had gotten like 10,000 followers and a couple hundred thousand views. I was absolutely in shock. I could not believe it. We were toasting and all excited that night, but I really thought it was probably the end of it, thought it was just a fun little deal.”

Little did Birge know, “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck” was just beginning to get its traction, which grew exponentially in the following days.

“Over the course of the next week or so, I ended up getting over 100,000 followers, and several million views on it,” Birge recalls. “There was such a demand for me to finish it. I actually ended up demoing the song and putting it on YouTube. And then once I posted the demo, it blew up even more. There were so many people calling my phone. I didn’t have a record deal at the time. I was thinking about hanging it up and calling it a day on playing live music. And all of a sudden, every record label in Nashville was calling my phone. It was the most surreal feeling. It was really, really cool. It ended up getting me a record deal … It’s no exaggeration to say it’s changed my life completely.”

Although unexpected, the timing of the viral success of “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck” could not have come at a better time for the rising star.

“I had been banging my head against the wall for a long time in this town, and I was about ready to hang it up,” Birge admits. “It almost feels fated. It was my first night on TikTok ever, and I never do that. I have no idea why I decided I was going to write a song back to this girl and then for it to get picked up like it did. Opportunity comes in ways that you’d never expect it. You just gotta be ready to ride it when it comes.”

Download or stream “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck” at GeorgeBirge.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Monarch Publicity / Dustin Havey