Chris Janson ‘Better I Don’t’ Video

Chris Janson revisits his "drinking days" in the video for his cautionary tune, "Better I Don't." The singer-songwriter, who says he has no regrets, decided to make the clip as authentic as the track itself.

"The song is a true story and I wanted to use true characters in it," Chris tells The Boot. "My friend Jon Stone, from the band American Young, is my drinking buddy there in the scene and so is my stepson Graham. He wasn't drinking. Well, none of us were really, it was just staged that way. And, my wife Kelly is the chick I'm hitting on."

The video was filmed at Nashville's 12 & Porter, a spot frequented by tunesmiths, but not necessarily true to this story. "It wasn't one of of my watering holes, but it was a good place to film," he explains. "Back in my drinking days, I was a Lower Broadway guy. But 12 & Porter has good lighting and good sound. It was the perfect bar atmosphere. We did the video with director Wes Edwards. I've worked with him in the past and he's an incredible guy and an incredible director. The video came together nicely and we shot it in one day. Easy peasy, you just shoot it over and over until you get what you want."

While the Missouri native does do a bit of roleplaying in the video, he won't be accepting an Oscar anytime soon. "There's no real acting," Chris admits. "There's acting in the bar scene when I'm checking out girls, but it wasn't some big scripted out scenario. We messed around and acted like we normally would in that scenario. That part was shot so quick. Most of the video is live performance stuff, and that was what we wanted to capture and the key highlight of the whole thing."