You know what they say… when in Rome. Or, in Whiskey Myers’ case, when in France?
While they may be the men behind some of country music’s most heart-wrenching songs, that doesn’t mean they don’t know how to let loose. Just ask the French, who apparently got a little more than they bargained for during the band’s first-ever show in Western Europe.
Back in 2012, the “Broken Window Serenade” crew were looking to expand its horizons and take its career to the next level, which included venturing overseas. In a resurfaced clip from Outsider’s podcast, hosts Jay Cutler and Sam Mackey sat down with frontman Cody Cannon and guitarist/vocalist John Jeffers, who recalled the band’s memorable first trip to France and the wild experience that came with it.
In an attempt to “be respected” as an independent band, they took a leap of faith and started to tour around Europe, because… why the h*ll not, right? Down the line, after a few albums, they kicked off their 2012 overseas tour in France, headlining at the Festival Country Rendez-Vous back in July, at which they hilariously forewarned on the podcast, “we got in trouble there, and we had to leave.”
Now that all of our curiosities are piqued, the story goes that during the three-day festival in Craponne-sur-Arzon, France, they would bus all of the musicians to and from the grounds, and by the time the band was gearing up to leave after their show, they had had their fair share of fun. “We didn’t know on the way out after we’d been there for like 12 hours, drinking hot beer, drunk, piss, piss that there were all these children on the front of the bus.”
Cody hilariously bickered back, “I don’t know if they were children…” to which John piped in, “No, they were like six, seven, eight. I think they classified.” Sure enough, the boys got a little wild and reckless, to which John shared, “Before you know it, we didn’t know that people were up there at the front [of the bus], thought it was just musicians, so we started streaking. I was one of them.”
Doubling down, they emphasized, “We streaked to the front of the bus, and that was a problem; it was frowned upon in France.” Cody added in, “They got real mad.”
The bus pulled over and threatened to take the streaking bandmates to jail, but apparently not Cody, who did not participate, continuing the story, “I didn’t do it, so I remember our manager calling was like ‘you gotta go apologize,’ I said ‘I didn’t do that sh*t…I ain’t apologizing for nothing.'”
All was well in the end, though, as the band apparently just packed up and moved on to the next country (hopefully with their clothes on this time). Looking back on the wild tour memory, they chalked it up to their younger, more reckless days, explaining that it was “kind of our mentality, I guess maybe East Texas, when you’re young, dumb, you know ruthless.”
And despite narrowly escaping a nudity charge in France, the overseas adventure actually worked in Whiskey Myers’ favor. As they explained, touring internationally helped them gain some credibility back in the States: “More people will book you cause you look international, you know you look bigger than you are.”
Sure enough, that international exposure helped the band break out of its Texas-based Red Dirt touring bubble and expand its reach.
Fast-forward to today, and Whiskey Myers is still going strong. The band is set to wrap up its jam-packed 2026 touring schedule on November 14 at the Field of Dreamz Crossroads Music Festival, with several festival appearances already on the books for 2027, including Two Step Inn, GoldenSky Festival and ZooTown Music Festival.
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