"Whiskey Lullaby" is a song composed by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. The song was a duet recorded by American country music artist Brad Paisley and bluegrass artist Alison Krauss on Paisley's album Mud on the Tires. The song was released on March 29, 2004 as the album's third single, and the 11th chart single of Paisley's career. Whiskey Lullaby peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, and No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song won the 2005 Country Music Association Song of the Year Award. It was certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The full-length music video is set in the World War II era. It begins with a bus of war veterans who still hear the sound of explosions from the war fresh in their minds. One of the men, played by actor and director Rick Schroder, who directed the video, looks at a picture of kissing his wife under a willow tree. He has a flashback of swinging her in his arms under the tree and telling her he will love her forever.
She tells the man once he returns from the war that they will start their family. The man awakens to a bus driver telling him that he has arrived at his destination and that he should start his life. As the man walks into his house, he sees pictures of his wife and him. His wife is played by actress Marisa Petroro, who also appeared in the video for Montgomery Gentry's "Speed." Again, the man hears his wife’s voice telling him that they will start a family when he returns home. The man hears laughter upstairs where he finds his wife in bed with another man. He leaves and the song begins.
Lyrics
She put him out, like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette She broke his heart, he spent his whole life tryin' to forget We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind Until the night He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away her memory Life is short, but this time it was bigger Than the strength he had to get up off his knees We found him with his face down in the pillow With a note that said, "I'll love her 'til I die" And when we buried him beneath the willow The angels sang a whiskey lullaby La, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la The rumors flew, but nobody knew how much she blamed herself For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath She finally drank her pain away a little at a time But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind Until the night She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger And finally drank away his memory Life is short, but this time it was bigger Than the strength she had to get up off her knees We found her with her face down in the pillow Clinging to his picture for dear life We laid her next to him beneath the willow While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby La, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la