Songfacts®:

• This mostly acoustic Matraca Berg and Deana Carter penned song features the vocals of Grace Potter from Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Chesney told Billboard magazine about the collaboration: "This song makes me believe in music even more. I'd never met Grace Potter until she came into the studio. She grew up in the woods in Vermont. I grew up in the woods in East Tennessee. We come from completely worlds, different backgrounds, probably religious beliefs, we haven't talked about it. I don't know what her political beliefs are, I don't know nothing about any of that. I know she's a great person and I know that she is a hell of a singer. I heard her voice and I knew I would love to sing with her one day. I didn't know it would be on this, or this soon.
  
  At the end of 2007, I rented a house North of Malibu, California, for about two months. I was exhausted, I didn't want to talk to anybody, I didn't want to listen to music, I just wanted to be still for a minute. Every day I would drive close in to Santa Monica, meet some friends, eat dinner, and I'd drive back up the PCH with the windows down. That time of year is really chilly, I'd watch the sun set. It's beautiful, I loved it. I would turn on the radio every now and then and I would hear these songs. I heard an Eagles song, I don't even remember what the song was. But I remember thinking, 'Wow, I think I like music again.'
  
  When I heard 'You and Tequila,' it put me in that spot. That's when I thought of Grace, because I listened to her music a lot on the boat, a lot on the bus, her live record especially. She has a song called 'Apology' that still kills me. I got in touch with her and sent her the song, I had already recorded it. She called back the next day and said 'I want to make this happen.' When she came in and we put our voices together, wow. I love the song, Matraca and Deana wrote it, but, boy, it's relatable, so universal. To have Grace on it, that will be with me forever."
• Potter told Rolling Stone that on hearing the song, she immediately wanted to be part of it. She said: "I love singing beautiful songs, that's all I care about. This is the first time that on the very first listen I immediately picked up the phone and said 'Make this happen.'"
• In an interview with NPR, Chesney said this is a "struggle song." He added, "there are some commonalities about getting someone out of your mind and drinking and trying to quit. I spent a lot of time [driving the Pacific Coast Highway]. I'd go to friends in Santa Monica about sunset. I would drive back up to the house, had the windows down. I'd listen to a lot of Eagles songs and some Tom Petty. When I heard this record and this song, it just put me in this place."
• Nashville songwriter Matraca Berg and country singer-songwriter Deana Carter penned the song. It originally featured on Carter's 2003 album, I'm Just A Girl, though it was Berg's version that Chesney heard. He explained: "I've had that song for years and lived with Matraca's demo for a long time. After the tour in 2007, I rented a house in Malibu, right on the cliff of the ocean, and I would drive up the Pacific Coast Highway right at sunset. I remember I'd roll down the windows and just listen to music. I would listen to Tom Petty, the Eagles. I would listen to so many songs that would fit that moment. It was therapeutic."