Songfacts®:

• This tearjerker was penned by Country music singer Josh Thompson. Raised in Wisconsin, Thompson speaks for the common man and his struggles on many of his compositions. This song is about the point where you've hit bottom. When he asked Thompson about the inspiration, he said: "Loud preachers in real life," adding, "you know, the people that try to point out to you that maybe your way of living isn't correct. There are a lot of people that are going through a really hard time in this country and they don't need somebody to tell them that they can look forward to going to hell when they die, because they're living it." (Here's the full Josh Thompson interview.)
• Josh Thompson got quite emotional when Paisley told him he was going to cut his tune. Paisley had a "hold" on the song, meaning he had the unofficial rights to it while he decided whether to record it or not. This can be frustrating for songwriters, since it keeps them from shopping these songs to other artists. Paisley gave Josh the good news that he would record the song when they were on the last date of the H20 tour in Denver.
• Paisley told Billboard magazine the song makes reference to, "a person in church saying, 'I don't need to hear about the consequences of my life - I'm living those consequences. Tell me about the upside of me sitting in this pew.' That's as country as it gets."