Tequila Sunrise

Spending the night burning the candle at both ends, or maybe taking a blowtorch to the middle? These tunes will take you from the heart of Saturday night to a woozy Sunday morning. Let yourself go like the "Tumbling Dice" of the Rolling Stones' roadhouse rocker, letting fate break your fall. Maybe you'll tumble towards your buddy Jack Daniel's to the strains of Hank Williams, Jr.'s outlaw-country anthem "Good Friends, Good Whiskey, Good Lovin'." When it's all over, take some advice from the Eagles, who knew a thing or two about life in the fast lane, and soak up the lazy country-rock guitar licks of a "Tequila Sunrise." Take a country road to Sunday morning in Next Steps, where you'll find k.d. lang, Neil Young, and a devilish hangover.

When a hazy Sunday morning shakes off a crazy Saturday night, there's nothing like a country song to round off the edges of that big, bad dawn. Kris Kristofferson plays the boozy balladeer brushing off the dust and facing down the light of day on the wrong side of "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down." Confederate Railroad fills in the back-story, mixing a shot of Southern rock with pure country pickin' as they recap "Sunday Morning and Saturday Night." And on "Alcohol," when storyteller Brad Paisley lends a twang-y tone to that voice in your head that says, "One more shot won't hurt," well, you know where that ends up. Hang around for your hangover cure in Deep Cuts.

If your head's feeling heavy and your eyes are on backwards, sometimes you've got to go straight to the source of your soggy state. Bad-boy country's crown prince Shooter Jennings gives the idea some bite with his morning-after cure, "Hair of the Dog." New York City cowboy Jack Grace delivers a convincing not-guilty plea in deep, Johnny Cash-like tones on "This Hangover Ain't Mine." And you know you've reached the bottom of the bottle when, like Long John Baldry, you need to ask the question "What've I Been Drinking." Cheer up, we've all been there before . . . and it's almost opening time again.

Kick off your boots, climb over that beer-can pyramid, and open up the window on a tequila sunrise, but before you get your kicks, make sure you've got the right mix. The easygoing side of honky-tonk, outlaw country, and roots-rock will offer up the most loyal drinking buddies you've ever had. Whether you're at the let's-get-this-party-started end of the process, like Willie Nelson getting ready to jump headlong into a sweetly rolling "Whiskey River," laying down your swimming head to Brad Paisley's "Whiskey Lullaby," or wondering why there's no booze just when you need it most, with Terri Clark's "I Wish He'd Been Drinkin' Whiskey" echoing in the jukebox of your mind, you'll be good to go with these intoxicating tunes. The best part is that they still pack a punch even when you're stone-cold sober.