Mitchell Tenpenny says when he and his co-writers on "Mixed Drinks" met at a bar, they spied a girl doing something recognizable: drinking away heartbreak. The song lets people know that's okay in the smoothest, catchiest way imaginable.

"It's ok to overdrink sometimes if your heart's broken," Tenpenny tells Taste of Country. "We get it. We've been there."

Andy Albert and Jordan Walker (Walker McGuire) helped write the song. In fact, that day was their first meet-up. The bartender kept filling up this girl's glass because that's his job, and that's what she needed. As for her ....

"(She was) doing that thing with her phone," Tenpenny says. "Drinking, and kept looking at her phone, looking at her phone. Kept putting it down, would drink and we were like, 'That can only mean one thing.'"

Linden Ave Art Work
Mitchell Tenpenny
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"Mixed Drinks" is one of the songs on Tenpenny's new Linden Ave EP, which drops on July 14. The songs will appeal to those that like a little humor, a little soul and a little west coast influence in their country. He's often compared to John Mayer, but Zac Brown and Ed Sheeran aren't far off.

Prior to releasing "Mixed Drinks" and the songs on Linden Ave, Tenpenny found success on Spotify with songs like "Bitches" and "Laid Back," and as a songwriter with the Top 5 hit "If the Boot Fits" for Granger Smith. That song changed everything for him, he says — it literally turned his perspective around.

"It makes it all worth it. It literally changes all of that depression, all of that rejection ... when you get that phone call it's like, 'Alright this is why I do this.'"

Listen to Mitchell Tenpenny, "Mixed Drinks"

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