Dillon has composed or co-written 63 songs for Strait, including 19 singles, 11 which went to number 1. And in a genre built on great songwriters writing for great singers, there has never been another team like it. It’s the relationship with Strait that has, to a large extent, defined both of their careers. His association with George Strait over the years has brought him to an ICON STATUS in country music. He has recently written songs for famous faces like Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and Lee Ann Womack. Early the following year Dillon signed a songwriting contract with Sony/A TV Tree, which came after his fifteen year relationship with Rose Acuff, a publishing company Sony acquired in July 2002.ĭean Dillon’s songwriting has thrived. In 2002, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (along with Bob Dylan and Shel Silverstein). The LP was lauded as a throwback, an answer to Nashville’s penchant for vapidity. It was 1991’s Out of Your Mind which referenced the hard country of Dillon’s heroes, but it also flirted with pop. The later featured a Tanya Tucker duet “Don’t You Even Think About Leaving.” Dillon next signed with ATLANTIC, where he issued his most successful album. The exposure landed Dillon a new contract with CAPITOL RECORDS, who released two Ricky Scruggs produced albums, Slick Nickel and I’ve Learned to Live. He wrote or co-wrote a number of hits during this period and had considerable success with George Strait, who took five of his songs to the charts between 1981 & 1988. After “Those were the Days”, Dillon took a five year hiatus from recording, cleaned up his personal life and concentrated on songwriting. It wasn’t long until Dillon was paired by RCA Record head, Jerry Bradley, with Gary Stewart, the “King of the Honky Tonkers.” The vices of the two men fed off of each other and while their two bleary, good-timing albums were successful and looked like hard-living prototypes to Brooks & Dunn, (especially 1982’s Brotherly Love), the partnership had little use for the straight and narrow. These successes established Dillon as a performer and as a songwriter. Three of the songs reached the Top 30 on the country charts, including “Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her,” which climbed all the way to number 25 (and later became a number 1 hit for George Strait).īetween19, as an artist Dillon charted eight times and broke the Top 30 with “I’m into the Bottle (To Get You out of My Mind).” He also wrote hits for other country stars like the 1983 George Jones number 1 hit “Tennessee Whiskey”. Between 19 Dillon released 12 singles for RCA Records. “Tennessee Whiskey,” which Dillon co-wrote with Linda Hargrove, has become a modern classic with widely heard versions by George Jones and Chris Stapleton.Īlthough it was writing songs for others where Dillon’s future lay, the young singer was hell bent on making it as a recording artist. In 1981, Dillon and Frank Dycus wrote Strait’s first hit single, “Unwound.” Since then, Strait has recorded more than sixty Dillon compositions, including “The Chair,” “Ocean Front Property,” “Famous Last Words of a Fool,” “If I Know Me,” “I’ve Come to Expect It from You,” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” “The Best Day,” and “Here for a Good Time.”ĭillon also wrote many honky-tonk hits for Vern Gosdin, Pam Tillis, Kenny Chesney, Keith Whitley, and other singers. Dillon’s hard-edged style and creative melodies suited Strait’s affinity for traditional country. One of the most successful and influential songwriters in country music, Dean Dillon served as a primary source of hits for George Strait. Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee Dean Dillon is one of the most iconic Country Music Songwriters of all time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |