Comments on: Dean Dillon

By: Occasional Hope

Occasional Hope — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:20:51 +0000

Dean Dillon had a couple more albums you’ve missed, Paul – Slick Nickel in 1988, and Hot, Country and Single in 1993, on Capitol and Atlantic respectively. Most of the early solo singles are available on a CD reissue of his work with Gary Stewart.

I have a feeling most of Vern Gosdin’s Dean Dillon cuts were actually co-written by Vern.

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:43:29 +0000

Dean also recorded at least two albums on his own (I’VE LEARN TO LIVE – Capitol, 1989 and OUT OF YOUR EVER LOVIN’ MIND – Atlantic, 1991) plus a bunch of singles on RCA including two future Strait hits “Nobody In His Right Mind Would Have Left Her” and Famous Last Words of a Fool”. He also recorded a pair of albums with the late, great Gary Stewart.

While no one would consider Dillon a great vocalist, he is a decent singer , and it is always interesting to hear a songwriter interpret his own work.

***

As much as I love Vern Gosdin (I think he is twice the singer Strait ever dreamed of being,) the fact remains that he is 18 years older than George Strait and country radio has always tended to turn over artists once they get somewhere past 50 years old (Eddy Arnold’s last #1 was in 1968 when he was 50 years old).

Gosdin got a fairly late start on country radio and turned 50 in 1984 (and looked older) so I doubt there were too many radio hits left to him, whether or not he got first crack at some of George’s hits first. Also George Strait and Vern Gosdin are not interchangeable artists – I simply can’t hear Vern doing some of the Dillon-penned Strait hits.

I think that Strait was a more natural fit for Dillon’s pen as Dillon’s own recordings tend more toward George Strait than they do Vern Gosdin

By: Kevin J. Coyne

Kevin J. Coyne — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:35:02 +0000

I think you captured all of the essential ones. Too often, his work with Gosdin is overlooked.

By: Blake Boldt

Blake Boldt — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:23:14 +0000

Of course, his most famous work is with Strait, but his talents reach even further across the Nashville community. It would’ve been impossible to list all of the great songs that he’s written or co-written. Hopefully others will seek his work out and find them!

By: Kevin J. Coyne

Kevin J. Coyne — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:16:09 +0000

Dillon has written many of my favorite George Strait singles, and I think Vern Gosdin might’ve had a higher profile career if he’d gotten a crack at them before George did.

I expected to see “All the Good Ones are Gone” here, but actually forgot he co-wrote “Spilled Perfume” with Pam.

In addition to the songs you listed, my favorites from Dillon’s catalog are:

“A Little too Late”, Toby Keith
“Brotherly Love”, Keith Whitley & Earl Thomas Conley
“Burnin’ Moonlight”, Toby Keith
“The Chair”, George Strait
“Don’t Cry Darlin’”, David Allan Coe
“Easy Come, Easy Go”, George Strait
“Lead On”, George Strait
“Thinkin’ With My Heart Again”, Joe Diffie; Lee Ann Womack

By: Occasional Hope

Occasional Hope — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:25:44 +0000

I’ve always thought Dean Dillon had one of the most distinctive authorial voices among country songwriters. A number of times I’ve heard a new song without knowing the details, and just known, from the phrasing, that it was one of his – and it’s almost regardless of the identity of any co-writers.

A couple of the best of his other songs are Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her and The Chair. And I have to mention one he recorded himself about the art of songwriting – Heart On The Line.