"Burn Out" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

band Midland. It is the third single from their 2017 debut album ''

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''. The band's three members,

Mark Wystrach Mark Wystrach is an American country music musician and actor. Wystrach appeared in the Academy Award-winning film '' The Eyes of Tammy Faye''. He is the lead singer of the country band Midland. Acting and modeling careers Wystrach played the r ...

Cameron Duddy Cameron Thomas Duddy (born December 6, 1985) is an American music video director and musician with over 9 billion views across his work. As a director, he is known for his work with Bruno Mars, OneRepublic, and Fifth Harmony. Most notably, Cameron ...

, and Jess Carson, co-wrote the song with

Shane McAnally Shane Lamar McAnally (born October 12, 1974) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. He debuted as a singer in 1999 with his Shane McAnally (album), self-titled album on Curb Records. This project produced three sing ...

and

Josh Osborne Josh Osborne (born c. 1980) is an American songwriter with several number-one singles to his credit. Early life Josh Osborne was born in Pike County, Kentucky, and raised in Virgie, Kentucky. Osborne grew up on US 23, renamed Country Music High ...

, the latter two of whom co-produced it with

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

Content

The song is about a male narrator watching a relationship "burn out", comparing it to a cigarette burning itself out. Lead singer

told the blog ''

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'' that he sees the song as a prequel to their 2017 debut single " Drinkin' Problem", saying that "Burn Out" is "very much in the same landscape. It could tell the story of how the character in 'Drinkin' Problem' could get to that place, as usually is the case through heartache". He also feels that the song draws inspiration from

Dean Dillon Dean Dillon (born Larry Dean Flynn; March 26, 1955) is an American country musician and songwriter. Between 1982 and 1993, he recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the ''Billboard'' country charts. Since 1 ...

and Gary Stewart, while also noting the group's prominent vocal harmonies.

Music video

Directed by

TK McKamy TK McKamy is an American film director, screenwriter, and editor known for directing music videos. Thomas Knox McKamy III was born in Stone Mountain, Georgia and raised in the small town of Nicholasville, Kentucky. The son of Knox and Lynn McK ...

, the video was filmed in one single take at the nightclub

Billy Bob's Texas Billy Bob's Texas is a country music nightclub located in the Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas, United States. It promotes itself as "The World's Largest Honky Tonk," at 100,000 square feet of interior space and nearly 20 acres of parking space. His ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. Wystrach said that the video, which features him rescuing a female bar patron from a rude customer, takes inspiration from the 1980 movie ''

Urban Cowboy ''Urban Cowboy'' is a 1980 American romantic Western film directed by James Bridges. The plot concerns the love-hate relationship between Buford "Bud" Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy ( Debra Winger). The film's success was credited for spurri ...

'', which itself was filmed partially at Billy Bob's. Live version was directed by Roger Pistole and premiered on CMT,

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in 2018.

Personnel

From ''On the Rocks'' liner notes. Musicians * Jess Carson – acoustic guitar, background vocals * Cameron Duddy – bass guitar, background vocals * Paul Franklin – steel guitar *

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Charlie Judge – keyboards *

Greg Morrow Greg Morrow is an American drummer, percussionist, session musician, mixing engineer, and vocalist. Biography Morrow was born in Ripley, Tennessee and raised in Memphis. At age 11, Morrow and his band performed on a local TV show, and he par ...

– drums * Derek Wells – electric guitar *

– lead vocals Technical * Dann Huff – producer * David Huff – digital editing * Steve Marcantonio – recording *

– producer * Andrew Mendelson – mastering * Justin Niebank – mixing *

– producer * Chris Small – digital editing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2018 singles Midland (band) songs Songs written by Jess Carson Songs written by Cameron Duddy Songs written by Shane McAnally Songs written by Josh Osborne Songs written by Mark Wystrach Song recordings produced by Shane McAnally Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Big Machine Records singles Music videos directed by TK McKamy