Remember When Billy Currington Topped The Charts With ‘Good Directions?’

Billy Currington was sitting at the top of the country charts with his massive hit, “Good Directions,” on this day in 2007.  

The Georgia native released the song in the fall of 2006 as the third and final single from his Doin’ Somethin’ Right album. It became his second No.1 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, following “Must Be Doin’ Something’ Right” in 2005.  

Additionally, “Good Directions” earned a platinum certification from The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of 1 million units. 

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“This is my third platinum song and it never gets old,” Currington told The Boot in 2012. ”People always tell me it’s one of their favorites and this certification just proves that even more.”

As of July 2022, the song is certified 3x platinum for sales of over 3 million units. 

“Good Directions” depicts the tale of two people who find their way back to each other after a man selling turnips on the side of the road offers up directions to a pretty lady who stops by his produce stand. He suggests that she stops to get some sweet tea while she’s on her way, and ultimately regrets that he didn’t get the chance to ask for her name before she drove away. Thankfully, his mom had his back.  

A Timeless Country Love Story

Currington sings, “Is this Georgia heat playing tricks on me / Or am I really seeing what I think I see / The woman of my dreams coming back to me / She went way up yonder, past the caution light / Don’t know why, but something felt right / When she stopped in and asked Miss Bell for some of her sweet tea / Mama gave her a big old glass and sent her right back here to me / Thank God for good directions / And turnip greens.”

Co-Written By Luke Bryan

The song was written by Luke Bryan and Rachel Thibodeau. According to CMT, Currington made it a single between when Bryan signed his record deal in 2004 and when he released his first album in 2007. 

“Good Directions” began to get so much press and become such a big song that we felt like, at that point, it had kind of done what it was going to do,” Bryan later said via Taste Of Country. “There were lots of times on my radio interviews that I was dedicating 80 to 90 percent of the interview to talking about ‘Good Directions’ Instead of my debut single, “All My Friends Say.”

According to Bryan, “Good Directions” is also commonly referred to as the “Sweet Tea” song. It is known as this because the sweet tea and the turnip greens are the main reason the two people in the song meet.

“People would always say, ‘Play the sweet tea song,” Bryan previously told The Boot in 2010. “They would never call it ‘Good Directions,’ because the sweet tea and turnip greens stuff overshadowed the rest of the song. But it made people listen.”

Watch Luke Bryan Perform “Good Directions”

Bryan recorded a version for his debut album, I’ll Stay Me, and ended up replacing it with the track “Pray About Everything.” 

Luke Bryan’s version of “Good Directions” ended up as a bonus track on his album. Early in his career, Bryan often sang the song during his live shows.