This may come as a shock to you, but in country music, we like our drinks. At least as far back as ol’ Hank Williams, we’ve had a tear in our beer, and we’ve never been afraid to tell you about it. Garth Brooks and George Jones (who legitimately did have a drinking problem) went on a “Beer Run,” Billy Currington was “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer,” and John Anderson knew all about a “Straight Tequila Night.”

But it seems the Washington Post thinks this is a new phenomenon, one they wrote an article about last week. They point out the number of artists who have opened bars or launched their own lines of wine, whiskey, vodka, rum, and mezcal.

They also went so far as to put together this video about how country artists use alcohol to sing about love, and everything that surrounds it, including breakups.

So… is this a bad thing? Obviously some artists have taken it too far in their personal lives  -- Keith Urban is among the artists who went to rehab, and George Jones was known for driving his lawnmower to the bar when his wife took away his car keys before he eventually got sober. But let’s look at Brad Paisley: one of his biggest songs is called “Alcohol,” he usually has a bar on stage at his shows, and he built a bar in his house. But he doesn’t drink at all. Many of the artists quoted in the WP’s article even said they don’t drink as hard as you might think they do.

Country music is about life, and often it’s about making the best of life as it is and having a good time whenever you can. And sometimes real life also includes making decisions while under the influence that you might not have made sober… because we all know that drunk text was NOT a good idea – and country music is about that, too.

Do we have a drinking problem in country music? I say no. We might have a partying and having fun problem, but is that really such a bad thing? Now, simmer down and pour me a glass of wine, would ya?