When you’re longing for someone you can’t have, sometimes the only way out is to mirror your heartbreak with a song that captures exactly how you feel.
We’ve collected some of the best country tracks about wanting someone you can’t have, whether it’s physical distance that’s separating you, unrequited love, or just a bad chance of luck that stops the two of you from thriving.
Country Songs About Wanting Someone You Can’t Have
1. Chris Stapleton – Tennessee Whiskey
Chris Stapleton’s track Tennessee Whiskey is woven with captivating blues influences mirroring the soft waves of melancholy that come with loving someone you can’t have.
This track has an absolutely timeless sound, transcending its 2015 release date, plucking inspiration from old school soul music which resonate as vibrantly as its classic country flair.
Tennessee Whiskey devotes itself to an atmospheric comparison of a lover to fine whiskey, the narrator describing his lonesome, addictive tendencies being dissolved in the sweetness of a woman’s love.
It’s fragrant, affectionate lyrics craft the perfect love song about someone you can’t have, beautifully describing them as the addictive, hypnotic and inherently destructive force which they truly are;
“You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey, you’re as sweet as strawberry wine, you’re as warm as a glass of brandy, and honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time.”
2. Tyler Braden – Try Losing One
Tyler Braden’s hit single, Try Losing One, comes from the perspective of having already lost the person you want, stricken with the anguish that you’ll never be able to hold your one true love again.
Braden centres his track in heart-gripping piano and strings, rather than the common guitar-based style of country music, painting a plushly emotive landscape which swells and amplifies the heartbreak clouding his lyrics;
“Try walking through the door of an empty house, try staring at the wall, pouring whisky out, try living with knowing that you let her down.”
Try Losing One puts a compelling twist on our list of songs about wanting someone you can’t have, anchoring its message in the line, “If you think finding a girl you can’t live without is the hardest thing you’ve ever done, try losing one.”
3. Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood – If I Didn’t Love You
Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood’s 2021 collab, If I Didn’t Love You, is an anthem for those wishing their feelings weren’t so enraptured by the person they can’t have.
This catchy country rock track details how much easier it would be without the constant fantasy of an unattainable lover, alongside the pain of letting the dream go;
“I wouldn’t mind being alone, I wouldn’t keep checking my phone… Remembering everything you said to me, like I’m doing lately … Yeah, it would be easy not to miss you, wonder about who’s with you, turn the “want you” off whenever I want to, if I didn’t love you.”
4. Jon Langston – Right Girl Wrong Time
Jon Langton blends country rock with an 80s pop vibe, creating a stunningly nostalgic sound with a fresh, modern spark. This is a track about falling in love, its lyrics painting a rosy, picturesque scene of a romance that crumbles into dust.
It’s a strange and crushing experience to have found your life partner, only to be pulled apart by circumstance; a unique type of pain given centre stage within this track,
“Cause she was the right girl, yes she was all mine, thought about her all day, we spent every night, chasing down the stars, talking ’bout forever, but I learned the hard way … Things can’t stay the same, when we got a couple hundred miles between each other.”
5. Cole Swindell – You Should Be Here
Colin Swindell puts a profound twist on our concept with his country track, You Should Be Here. Swindell crafts his lyrics around the longing for his parents to be alive to share his success with him and realise the better life he’s created.
This is a track for anyone whose longing transcends simple romance, embedded with the true sense of grief in wanting what you can never have back,
“You’d be taking way too many pictures on your phone, showing them off to everybody that you know back home… They say now you’re in a better place, and I would be too if I could see your face. You should be here, standing with your arm around me here.”
6. Zach Bryan – Something In The Orange
Zach Bryan’s 2022 hit, Something In The Orange, uses its title metaphor to paint a dusty, country landscape in which the narrator finds hope that one day his love will be reborn.
This break up track is riddled with touching lyrics, each line as clever as it is emotionally pained, creating a magnificently atmospheric piece for anyone wishing to one day rekindle their romance with the person they’ll always adore;
“Cause if I say I miss you I know that you won’t, but I miss you in the mornings when I see the sun, something in the orange tells me we’re not done. To you I’m just a man, to me you’re all I am, where the hell am I supposed to go?”
7. Ryan Hurd & Maren Morris – Chasing After You
Ryah Hurd & Maren Morris’ track keeps any blatant country inspirations at arm’s length, instead crafting a lush pop anthem highlighted by a stunning Southern ambience. Rich, fluid guitar tones create an otherworldly aura for a nightmarish lyrical story to unfold.
Chasing After You describes the torment of a girl who comes and goes as she pleases, leading the narrator on and leaving him begging for more, no matter how truly miserable she makes him;
“You come over when your wine’s all gone, always catch me when I’m not that strong, then you wind up staying all night long … I know it’s a matter of time, till you walk back out of my life, leave me standing here lonely feeling like a fool.”
Their highlighting lyric depicts the tumultuousness of how it feels to want someone you can’t truly have, “Wish I could quit you but it feels too good, if I could turn it off, you know I would.”