Midland’s Drinkin’ Problem became a bilingual Texas country standard

Midland’s debut single, Drinkin’ Problem, has outlived the usual country-radio cycle by a wide margin. The Dripping Springs trio’s 2017 breakout has since climbed to a 6x Platinum certification and earned a second life in regional Mexican music, where Texas Monthly described it as a bilingual Texas standard.

Mark Wystrach, Cameron Duddy and Jess Carson wrote the song with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally, then released it as the first single from their debut album On the Rocks on Feb. 27, 2017. The official video was posted on YouTube four days earlier, on Feb. 23, giving the band an early visual calling card as it introduced itself after joining Big Machine Label Group in 2016.

The song became Midland’s first No. 1 hit, and the group marked that milestone with a Nashville party in October 2017. Its commercial run has only widened since then: Drinkin’ Problem hit a 5x Platinum milestone in September 2024, and later certification records moved it to 6x Platinum. For a song built around steel guitar, barroom regret and close harmony, that kind of scale has made it one of the clearest examples of how traditional country can still sell in volume.

That staying power matters because Midland has never hidden its allegiance to older country forms. The band is an Austin-area act from Dripping Springs, and its sound has long leaned into the visual and sonic cues of classic Texas country rather than glossy crossover polish. Drinkin’ Problem now sits at the center of that identity, not just as the song that launched the trio, but as proof that a deliberately traditional approach can still break through in a streaming era dominated by algorithmic fragmentation.

The song’s cross-border afterlife has been just as telling. Texas Monthly noted that it is frequently covered by artists in regional Mexican music genres, giving Midland a presence well beyond country radio and showing how a Nashville-made single can travel through Texas’s bilingual music economy. That cultural reach has become part of the band’s commercial case as it prepares Stages, announced for release on June 12, 2026, on Blue Highway Records as its fifth studio album. The 10-track project was produced primarily by Trent Willmon, extending Midland’s pitch that old-school country still has room at the center of the market.