Like many in the country music world, longtime country music songwriter and producer Keith Stegall was not a fan of what he was hearing on country radio in the early 2000s. Unfortunately for Keith, it would go on to get a whole lot worse for the next 10-15 years... George Strait has had numerous hits throughout his career, but one of my favorite number ones over his expansive career is his 2004 hit "I Hate Everything." The song might be called "I Hate Everything," but by the end of it, the ditty brings listeners joy. Penned by  Gary Harrison and Keith Stegall, the lyrics detail a man at a bar who is bitter that his ex-wife left him for another man. Still in the thick of his heartbreak, he can't help but feel like he hates everything that is going on in his life right now. The heartbroken man spills his feelings about the situation to another man next to him, and although the other man never says a word by the end of the song, after venting about his feelings, he is hopeful he and his ex-wife can work things out, and the heartbroken man thanks the other for being a set of ears for him. "I hate my job And I hate my life And if it weren't for my two kids I'd hate my ex-wife. I know I should move on and try to start again, But I just can't get over her leaving me for him. Then he shook his head, looked down at his ring, said, "I hate everything." However, on a recent sitdown with the Country Drive Podcast, Keith Stegall tells fans that the song's title didn't come from his own heartbreaking experiences but rather from driving down home and hating what he heard on country radio. "Actually that title was... I'll probably get eggs thrown at me for this. But that title came from me driving home and channel surfing between the three radio stations, the three country radio stations we had in Nashville. Just listening after to the other. I pulled up in my driveway, and I went, 'Something is horribly wrong with me; I hate everything!' And I stopped, and I went, 'Wait a minute, that's the title." Stegall then went upstairs, pulled out an envelope, and jotted down the lyrics he had in his head for "I Hate Everything." He got half of the song done when he felt like he couldn't find a way to wrap it up, and he called Gary Harrison and asked him to help finish the ditty, which Harrison gladly accepted. After a few days, Stegall ran into Harrison in the studio, who told him that he had found the perfect ending to the song. "I was noodling around my studio, and I ran into Garry, and he goes, 'Come here, I think I've got this.' And he was the one that put the, 'I paid for his drinks/ And I told him thanks/ Thanks for everything.' Gary was able to put that twist on it." Stegall then told the podcast that after he finished the song, he was sitting around at an old Nashville club called the Trap, passing around a guitar with many other singers and songwriters, and he decided to play his new song. He was at the right place at the right time because the late, great Erv Woolsey, George Strait's longtime manager who passed away earlier this year, sat in that circle of folks and told Stegall he wanted a hold on that song. Stegall laughed, recalling that moment. He was unsure if Erv would remember saying that the next day, but sure enough, he did, and it would later become a number-one hit for Stegall, Harrison, and Strait. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t0vPZBtIhk In all honesty, while Stegall got the song's title in 2004 after listening to country radio, I am sure that if he were driving home today and had the same experience, the song title would be much worse than "I Hate Everything." But hey, at least it made for one helluva song... Fire it up while you're here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD93wy6WoMQA