You know the feeling: It’s the middle of summer and you’re ready for sunrise, sunset, sunburn, repeat. However, sometimes the weather has other ideas and the skies are gray. While you’d like to believe that “rain is a good thing,” it’s not always the easiest mindset when your pool parties and barbecues are getting rained out. Thankfully, country music has a song for everything, including those rainy days.

Here are some of our favorite songs about rain…

1. Gary Allan: “Songs About Rain” 

On Gary Allan’s 2013 single, he drowns his sorrows over a lost love in a sad playlist featuring none other than songs about rain. “Today I heard you got a new last name,” He sings mournfully. “Sure didn’t know it was gonna hit me this way/ And the radio just keeps on playing all these songs about rain.” Allan is in a bad mood here and the radio is just matching his disposition as he reflects on losing the woman he loves. He names a few specific songs in the lyrics, including “Rainy Night in Georgia” and “Kentucky Rain” as he deals with his sadness. “I hope it’s sunny wherever you are/ But that sure ain’t the picture tonight in my car.” Ouch.

2. Luke Bryan: “Rain Is a Good Thing”

While for some of us, rain is a bad thing, Luke Bryan somehow manages to take positive position on condensation. On the 2009 track from Doin’ My Thing, Bryan is ready to look at rain from a scientific standpoint, singing about how rain is simply a necessary part of life. According to Bryan’s “country science,” without rain, we wouldn’t have corn or whiskey or women who feel just a bit frisky. In what has become one of Bryan’s most iconic lyrics, he sings. “Rain makes corn/ Corn makes whiskey / Whiskey makes my baby / Feel a little frisky.” 

3. Jo Dee Messina: “Bring On the Rain”

With one of the most powerfully underrated voices and catalogs in all of country music, Jo Dee Messina really gets us in the feels with her 2000 single, “Bring On the Rain.” Featuring Tim McGraw on background vocals, the song is about looking forward to tomorrow. Today may have been terrible, but there’s always another day to turn things around. “Another day has almost come and gone/ Can’t imagine what else could go wrong/ Sometimes I’d like to hideaway/ Somewhere and lock the door/ A single battle lost but not the war/ ‘Cause tomorrow’s another day/ And I’m thirsty anyway/ So bring on the rain.” On the ballad, Messina is ready for what life throws at her, and the message is one we could all stand to hear from time. “I’m not gonna let it get me down/ I’m not gonna cry/ And I’m not gonna lose any sleep tonight/ ‘Cause tomorrow’s another day/ And I am not afraid/ So bring on the rain.”

4. David Nail: “Let It Rain”

Speaking of underrated artists, it would be impossible not to mention David Nail. With his powerful voice and clever turn of phrase, he brings the story of a regretful cheater to life on “Let It Rain.” Inspired by the Zach Braff movie, The Last Kiss, “Let It Rain,” tells the story of a man who cheats on his girlfriend, who then throws him out in a storm. The song boasts the powerful lyric that truly encapsulates the story of the song, “No seven years of good/ can’t hide the one night I forgot to wear that ring.”

As for the rain, it’s abundant here as Nail proclaims, “So let it rain, let it pour, if she don’t love me anymore/ Just let it come down on me, let it come down on me, Every word, let it hurt, even more than I deserve/ Let it come down on me, let it come down on me, let it rain”

5. Keith Urban: “Raining on Sunday”

For Keith Urban, a rainy Sunday is the perfect excuse to do nothing but stay in bed with someone special. In “Raining on Sunday,” Urban prays for a chance to take a day off from real lift to just hide out and enjoy a day indoors. “Love could use a day of rest/ Before we both start falling apart,” He sings here, and we’re picking up what he’s putting down. This relationship needs a timeout and rainy day is just the thing to allow it to happen. “Let the water wash our bodies clean/ And love wash our souls.”

6. Tim McGraw: “She’s My Kind of Rain”

On “She’s My Kind of Rain,” Tim McGraw celebrates all that can be beautiful about rain, comparing the woman he loves to it. It’s a simple yet beautiful message, and with McGraw comparing someone to rain, what’s there to hate? Frankly, he could be singing “She’s My Kind of Mold,” and it would be oddly endearing. Here, however, it’s a little more refreshing and a little more poetic, as he sings, “She’s my kind of rain/ Like love from a drunken sky / Confetti falling down all night / She’s my kind of rain.”

Bonus – Luke Combs: “When It Rains It Pours”

In most cases, the old adage of “when it rains it pours” applies to negative situations. However, Luke Combs puts a clever and humorous take on the saying here, revealing all of the good things that happened to him once he was dumped. While the song may not technically be about rain, we couldn’t leave it off, because it’s a great song with rain in the title.

“Then I won a hundred bucks on a scratch off ticket,” Combs reveals before announcing, “I was caller number five on a radio station, won a four-day, three-night, beach vacation/ Deep sea, senorita, fishing down in Panama/ And I ain’t gotta see my ex future mother-in-law anymore/ Oh lord, when it rains it pours.” Combs also goes on to win a round of golf and get a number from the Hooter’s waitress, all which he credits to his ex walking out. Now, this is the kind of “rain” we can get behind.

[Cover photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Pandora]

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