Songfacts®:

• Cole Swindell's father passed away during the 2013 Labor Day weekend when a truck he was working on overturned on him. Five years after the tragic event, Jessi Alexander and Chase McGill co-wrote this bittersweet ballad with Swindell in mind on the singer's tour bus. He told The Boot the story of the song:
  
  "They were out writing with me that weekend, and the night before, Chase had told me that he had this title, 'Dad's Old Number.' I automatically go to football, but he was like, 'No, it's about having the number you can't call anymore.' I was immediately floored; I was like, 'I love that.'"
  
  The trio agreed to pen the song the next day, but when their session was due to start Swindell was fast asleep. Alexander and McGill started writing the song between them and by the time the singer was ready to join them, they'd completed it. When Swindell got to hear what they'd come up with he quickly got over his disappointment at missing the session.
  
  "With 'Dad's Old Number,' it was better to let them do it, because that's what they do," he explained.
• This is the second song that Swindell recorded which takes on the difficult and personal topic of losing his father. The equally sentimental "You Should Be Here" reached #31 on the Hot 100 hit in 2016.