Kiefer Sutherland’s ‘Not Enough Whiskey’ Draws From Personal Experience
Kiefer Sutherland has just released his debut solo album, Down in a Hole, and he says the album's first single is particularly personal to him.
Sutherland released "Not Enough Whiskey" in advance of the album, and it's one of the songs he performed live during his recent debut on the Grand Ole Opry. In the video above, he tells Taste of Country that the song's lyrics resonate with him because of his own experiences.
The singer-songwriter's struggles with alcohol are well-documented. He's been arrested for DUI four times, and served a 48-day jail sentence in 2008 after his last offense. He addressed that head-on with "Not Enough Whiskey."
"I wrote it for a personal point in my life that I had to realize that there were things that were big -- whether it was a personal problem within your family or a relationship, or work -- there were certain things that the whiskey's not gonna help you out with," he says. "You have to deal with that straight, and you have to deal with that properly. I wrote that song as much a reminder to myself about that idea as I did for anybody else."
Sutherland is best known for starring on TV's 24, as well as roles in iconic films including Stand by Me, Young Guns and A Few Good Men. He knew he'd face an uphill battle for credibility in releasing an album.
"There's a huge stigma about an actor doing music, and I completely understand that," he tells us. "But for me, I got to a point in my life where A, I liked the songs I was writing, I liked the way they sounded. And I got to a point in my life where if someone was gonna say something mean about it, I was fine with that. I think I just had to get to a point in my life where I was mature enough and confident enough to stand by my music, whether someone likes it or not."
Artists Who Have Unexpectedly Gone Country