Chris Bandi on Gut-Wrenching New Song ‘Why I Don’t Drink’: ‘I Knew We Had Something Special’

“‘Cause I know what I feel ain’t love / the only time I open up / is when I’m drunk, standing at your door / these whiskey lies we both believe / just when you’re gettin’ over me / I’ll break your heart like every time before / I don’t want to tell you things anymore, then leave / this is why I don’t drink.”

Written by Lauren Laffer
Chris Bandi on Gut-Wrenching New Song ‘Why I Don’t Drink’: ‘I Knew We Had Something Special’
Chris Bandi; Photo credit: Dustin Haney

Acknowledging you’ve done someone wrong time and time again is a gut-wrenching admission, but taking the steps to prevent it from becoming a habit can help ease the pain. Those steps of prevention are exactly what rising country star Chris Bandi admits to doing in his new single “Why I Don’t Drink.”

In the track, co-written by Bandi and Kat Higgins, the St. Louis native sings of an ex who is trying to move on with her life, only to have him show up at her doorstep countless times making empty promises while he’s drunk.

“‘Cause I know what I feel ain’t love / the only time I open up / is when I’m drunk, standing at your door / these whiskey lies we both believe / just when you’re gettin’ over me / I’ll break your heart like every time before / I don’t want to tell you things, then in the morning leave / that’s why I don’t drink,” he sings with an ear-catching rasp in the chorus of the song.

“When I first moved to town from St. Louis, some of the best advice I received was to write about things that I knew about. For me, that’s not necessarily tractors and tailgates but what I do know well is how to be dumb when it comes to relationships,” he tells Sounds Like Nashville. “‘Why I Don’t Drink’ is a song about having someone who you know isn’t the one but after a few drinks you always find yourself over at their place. I like to think I’ve come to know better as I’ve gotten older to get out of a situation like that before both hearts end up broken.”

Chris Bandi

Chris Bandi; Photo credit: Dustin Haney

Bandi has taken the song out on the road and the reaction from the audience led him to believe its message was exactly what some people needed to hear.

“I would play it just stripped down acoustic and people would come up after the show asking if it were available to stream or download. That’s when I knew we had something special,” he admits.

Those hoping to stream or download the track will be able to on Friday, Nov. 2, but Sounds Like Nashville has the exclusive premiere today! Check out “Why I Don’t Drink” above and be sure to follow Bandi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.