George Birge has a new hit single on his hands, and it’s a big one. The Texas native’s “Mind On You,” written by Birge along with Jaron Boyer, Michael Tyler  and  Colt Ford, is the most-added at country radio this week. The song’s success is an important validation for Birge, who came precariously close to having another big artist record it instead of him.

“I wrote the song in late 2020,” Birge recalls to Everything Nash. “I had just asked out of a record deal that I was in previously. I wasn’t sure that I was gonna do the artist thing anymore, and I was just kind of focusing on writing songs for other folks.”

Birge first sat down with Ford to write, unaware that not only were they ultimately writing for him, but that the song they would write would change Birge’s entire career.

“We were writing a song together that day, not with the intention of writing it for anybody, just sitting down and writing a good song,” Birge recalls. “There are days in the room where you write something and you’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s probably never gonna see the light of day.’ It’s just practice. And then there are days where you feel like you might have done something. And this is one of those days. We were high-fiving walking out of the room. It felt special, but I didn’t have a record deal at the time, and Colt’s not really a singer, so we didn’t really know what to do with it.”

Instead, Birge pitched the song to Jason Aldean, and the very next day found out Aldean wanted to put the song on hold to record it himself.

“We got an email back 24 hours later, telling us not to pitch the song to anybody else, that Aldean was gonna hold it for his new record,” Birge shares. “At the time, that was the most traction I’d ever gotten. I was super excited. I felt like that was a life-changer for me. And then six months go by, and I have a song, ‘Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck‘ go crazy viral, and all these record labels start calling me, and I ended up signing a deal as a solo artist.”

It was after Birge signed a deal with RECORDS Nashville, an imprint of Sony Music, and he was on the phone with the head of the label, when it was suggested he keep “Mind On You” for himself.

“‘I think that is the song that’s gonna change your life, and you need to call and ask for it back,'” Birge remembers them saying.  “I prayed on it and slept on it and thought about it, and ended up deciding to roll the dice on myself. And so I called Michael Knox, who’s Aldean’s producer, told him the situation and asked for my song back. And there are times when it doesn’t go so well when you do that in this town. There are a lot of cases where that happens, but these guys were so kind. They gave me my song back. They were excited for me and my opportunity.”

Now, with the song quickly climbing the charts as soon as it was released, Birge can see keeping “Mind On You” as a gamble, but one that has definitely paid off.

“I was able to put it out with my name on it, and it came out of the gates faster than anything I’ve ever done,” Birge boasts. “And now it’s getting played on national radio shows and I’m going to play concerts and people are singing it back and it’s just been an absolute life changer for me … I was a little bit nervous to roll the dice on myself, but now I’m really glad I did.”

Birge also recently released “That Drink,” a collaboration with Neal McCoy. “Beer, Beer, Truck, Truck,” and “Mind On You” are both on Birge’s eponymous debut EP, out now. Find all of Birge’s music at GeorgeBirge.com.