Songwriter Billy Montana co-wrote Sara Evans’ No. 1 hit “Suds in the Bucket” with writer Tanya Wagoner (who also goes by Jenai). It was Montana, however, who came up with the famous line, “She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging out on the line.”

Oddly enough, Montana has no idea how he came up with it.

“We started with a concept of wanting to write a song about a young girl growing up and leaving home in a hurry, but how do we say she’s leaving in a hurry?'” Montana said. “I was like ‘she left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging out on the line.’ Jenai’s eyes got big and she was like ‘Where did that come from?’ And I was like, ‘I have no idea.’ It was divine intervention.”

Jenai’s response: “We are writing that.”

The one rule of songwriting: ‘There are no rules.’

“Suds in the Bucket” was written differently than Montana typically wrote songs. He says he always started with a title or a lyric. This one started with a concept and they worked backwards from there.

“Whenever and when I talk about my normal process of songwriting, I always say the only rule is there are no rules. ‘Suds in the bucket is my example for myself of having success with a song that was written completely counter to my comfort zone and and what I normally do.”

The song was also not originally written for Evans, but instead for Leanne Womack, who passed on the song.

The demo of the song, Montana says, was very different than the way Evans ended up recording it.

“The banjo was real prevalent,” he said. “It was kind-of a stripped down, acoustic thing. The way it was recorded wasn’t really the sound that was happening at the time. It was Paul Worley, who was producing Sara, who heard the demo and turned the work tape into a great record. He played it for Sara and they both got it.”

Music video elevates ‘Suds in the Bucket’

The music video was made more like a movie than a music video with Evans acting as an observer to what’s happening in the song, which is how the song is written.

“The song lends itself to being a little three-and-a-half-minute movie and when we finished it, I was like, ‘Oh, mission accomplished’ because we were successful, I think, in speaking the language of the characters and laying out the story in a very colorful way. Images like the ‘biddies in the beauty shop, gossip going non-stop, dipping on pink lemonade,’ just these little details that I think added to the charm of the song.”

Post Malone gives ‘Suds’ new life at Stagecoach

At 2024’s Stagecoach Festival, Post Malone invites Evans on stage for a duet of “Suds.” Evans posted the video on her TikTok saying, “forever grateful to be a part of this set and thankful to Austin for thinking of me. a night i will never forget @Post Malone #stagecoach“

Montana reacted, saying “When I saw him start singing along with her, I was just like, ‘Dang, I don’t need anything else in my career.'”

This year marks 20 years since the song hit the top of the charts.