Jon was taking a cross country trip on his motorcycle and in Texas at the time. He would stop in little bars or whatever and talk with people and hearing stories about how people had their dreams that went up in smoke was something he could relate to. He had the dream of being a rock star, but it was nearly killing him. At one point he stopped somewhere and ordered a beer and was told, "You can't get a beer here, it's a dry county." He'd never heard that phrase before. There are certain counties that do not sell alcohol at all; some that don't sell liquor. It's local goverment initiative voted on by the population of that county. So, the words "Dry County" stuck with him and he combined it with the stories of people going to Texas oil towns hoping to find a pot of gold and "coming up with less than a pot to piss in" and his own experience with the music business and the song was born.