Dean Dillon

In 2002, Dillon was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2020, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

• Name — Dean Dillon • Birth Name — Larry Dean Flynn • Alias — Dean Rutherford Dean Dalton • Born — 26 March 1955 • Birthplace — Lake City, Tennessee, U.S. • Instrument — Vocals, guitar • Genre — Country • Occupation — Singer, songwriter • Years Active — 1979–present • Label — RCA, Capitol, Atlantic

Dean Dillon was born Larry Dean Flynn on March 26, 1955, in Lake City, Tennessee, where he was raised. He began playing the guitar at the age of seven, and when he was 15 he made his first public appearance as a singer and performer in the Knoxville variety show Jim Clayton Startime. After completing Oak Ridge High School in 1973 he hitchhiked to Nashville with hopes of starting a music career. Dillon first recorded on the Plantation label as Dean Rutherford, and then as Dean Dalton. Upon moving to RCA Records, he was persuaded to change his recording name; record executive Jerry Bradley randomly picked the name Dillon from a telephone book.

In 2018 he met Sundance Head at a Houston Rodeo and fell in love with his voice. "The first time I heard 'Dance' I thought, 'where has THIS guy been hiding? I've been in this business all my life, and with the exception of a couple of people, I've never heard anybody sing the way this man does. He is extremely special," says Dillon. With the help of business associates from Texas, Dillon created his own record label WildCatter Records, signing Sundance Head. On January 25, 2019, their first album together, Stained Glass and Neon, was released.

Dillon's daughter, Jessie Jo Dillon, is also a songwriter. He also has another daughter, named Song, who is also a singer songwriter. Dillon is currently married to Susie

• Year — Album — US Country — Label • 1982 — Brotherly Love (with Gary Stewart) — 23 — RCA • 1983 — Those Were the Days (with Gary Stewart) — 54 • 1988 — Slick Nickel — — — Capitol • 1989 — I've Learned to Live — — • 1991 — Out of Your Ever Lovin' Mind — 58 — Atlantic • 1993 — Hot, Country and Single — —

• Year — Single — Peak positions — Album • US Country — CAN Country • 1979 — "I'm Into the Bottle (To Get You Out of My Mind)" — 30 — — — rowspan="5" • 1980 — "What Good Is a Heart" — 28 — — • "Nobody in His Right Mind (Would’ve Left Her)" — 25 — — • 1981 — "They'll Never Take Me Alive" — 57 — — • "Jesus Let Me Slide" — 77 — — • 1982 — "Brotherly Love" (with Gary Stewart) — 41 — — — Brotherly Love • "Play This Old Working Day Away" — 74 — — • "You to Come Home To" — 65 — — • 1983 — "Those Were the Days" (with Gary Stewart) — 47 — — — Those Were the Days • "Smokin' in the Rockies" (with Gary Stewart) — 71 — — • "Famous Last Words of a Fool" — 67 — — • 1988 — "The New Never Wore Off My Sweet Baby" — 51 — — — Slick Nickel • "I Go to Pieces" — 39 — — • "Hey Heart" — 58 — — • 1989 — "It's Love That Makes You Sexy" — 61 — 60 — I've Learned to Live • "Back in the Swing of Things" — 89 — 70 • 1991 — "Holed Up in Some Honky Tonk" — 69 — 50 — Out of Your Ever Lovin' Mind • "Friday Night's Woman" — 39 — 26 • "Don't You Even (Think About Leavin')" — 62 — 71 • 1993 — "Hot, Country and Single" — 62 — — — Hot, Country and Single • "—" denotes releases that did not chart

• Year — Video — Director • 1988 — "The New Never Wore Off My Sweet Baby" — John Lloyd Miller • 1991 — "Holed Up in Some Honky Tonk" • "Don't You Even (Think About Leaving)" • 1993 — "Hot, Country & Single" — Mary Newman-Said

Dillon has worked with a younger generation of country stars including Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney. In 2002, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame along with Bob Dylan and Shel Silverstein. Dillon co-wrote two songs on Toby Keith's 2005 album Honkytonk University, and five on his 2006 album White Trash with Money, including the single "A Little Too Late". Dillon has either written or co-written the following singles for other artists: • Artist — Song — Co-writers • Alabama — "Changes Comin' On" • Brooks & Dunn — "I'll Never Forgive My Heart" — Ronnie Dunn, Janine Dunn • David Allan Coe — "Tennessee Whiskey" — Linda Hargrove • David Kersh — "She Wants Me to Stay (Stay Gone)" — Ronnie Dunn • Dennis Robbins — "The Only Slide I Ever Played On" — Dennis Robbins • Gary Stewart — "An Empty Glass" — Gary Stewart • George Jones — "Tennessee Whiskey" — Linda Hargrove • George Strait — "A Real Good Place to Start" — Gary Nicholson • "Any Old Love Won't Do" — Frank Dycus • "Back to Bein' Me" — Hank Cochran • "Down and Out" — Frank Dycus • "Drinkin' Man" — George Strait, Bubba Strait • "Easy Come, Easy Go" — Aaron Barker • "Famous Last Words of a Fool" — Rex Huston • "For Christ's Sake, It's Christmas" — Hank Cochran • "Four Down and Twelve Across" — Tom Douglas • "Friday Night Fever" — Frank Dycus, Blake Mevis • "Give Me More Time" — Al Anderson, Scotty Emerick • "Good News, Bad News" — Dale Dodson, Lee Ann Womack • "Her Goodbye Hit Me in the Heart" — Frank Dycus • "He's Got That Something Special" — George Strait, Bubba Strait • "Holding My Own" — Pam Belford • "Honk If You Honky Tonk" — Ken Mellons, John Northrup • "Honky Tonk Crazy" — Frank Dycus • "Honkytonkville" — Buddy Brock, Kim Williams • "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore" — Scotty Emerick, Maria Cannon-Goodman • "I Believe" — George Strait, Bubba Strait • "I Get Along With You" — Frank Dycus, Murray F. Cannon, Raleigh Squires, and Jimmy Darrell • "I'd Just as Soon Go" — Aaron Barker • "If I Know Me" — Pam Belford • "If Heartaches Were Horses" — Buddy Brock, Wil Nance • "If It's Gonna Rain" — Scotty Emerick, Donny Kees • "I'm All Behind You Now" • "Is It That Time Again" — Buddy Cannon, Vern Gosdin • "It Ain't Cool to Be Crazy About You" — Royce Porter • "I've Come to Expect It From You" — Buddy Cannon • "Lead On" — Teddy Gentry • "Living for the Night" — George Strait, Bubba Strait • "Marina del Rey" — Frank Dycus • "Nobody in His Right Mind Would've Left Her • "Ocean Front Property" — Hank Cochran, Royce Porter • "Peace of Mind" — Aaron Barker • "Rockin' in the Arms of Your Memory" — Norro Wilson • "She Let Herself Go" — Kerry Kurt Phillips • "She's Playing Hell Trying to Get Me to Heaven" — David Wills, Charles Quillen • "She Took the Wind From His Sails" — Donny Kees • "That's My Kind of Woman" — Tammy Hyler • "That's the Breaks" — Royce Porter • "That's Where I Wanna Take Our Love" — Hank Cochran • "The Best Day" — Carson Chamberlain • "The Breath You Take" — Jessie Jo Dillon, Casey Beathard • "The Chair" — Hank Cochran • "The Road Less Traveled" — Buddy Brock • "Unwound" — Frank Dycus • "We're Supposed to Do That Now and Then" — David Anthony, Joseph-Nicholas-Pancrac Royer • "West Texas Town" — Robert Earl Keen • "What Would Your Memories Do" — Hank Cochran • "When You're in Love" — Kerry Kurt Phillips • "Without Me Around" — John Northrup • "Without You Here" — Royce Porter • "You Sure Got This Ol' Redneck Feelin' Blue" — Buzz Rabin • Granger Smith — "C'est La Vie" — Aaron Barker, Gary Chapman • Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and Ernest Tubb — "Leave Them Boys Alone" — Gary Stewart • Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius — "Lying in Love with You" — Gary Harrison • Keith Whitley — "Miami, My Amy" — Hank Cochran, Royce Porter • "Homecoming '63" — Royce Porter • Kenny Chesney — "A Chance" — Royce Porter • "A Lot of Things Different" — Bill Anderson • "Be As You Are" — Kenny Chesney • "Boats" — Kenny Chesney, Scotty Emerick • "Guitars and Tiki Bars" — Kenny Chesney, Mark Tamburino • "I'm Alive" • "She Always Says It First" — Kenny Chesney • "Soul of a Sailor" — Kenny Chesney, Scotty Emerick • "The Angel at the Top of My Tree" — Kenny Chesney, Buddy Cannon • Lee Ann Womack — "Have You Seen That Girl?" • "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago" • Lee Ann Womack featuring George Strait — "We've Called It Everything But Quits" • Lorrie Morgan — "Is It Raining at Your House" — Hank Cochran, Vern Gosdin • Pam Tillis — "All the Good Ones Are Gone" • "Spilled Perfume" • Paul Overstreet — "If I Could Bottle This Up" • Rodney Atkins — "The Corner" — Dale Dodson, Jessie Jo Dillon • Sammy Kershaw — "One Day Left to Live" • Shenandoah — "Darned If I Don't (Danged If I Do)" — Ronnie Dunn • Toby Keith — "A Little Too Late" — Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick • "Ain't No Right Way" • "Burnin' Moonlight" • "Get My Drink On" • "Go with Her" • "I Ain't Already There" • "Knock Yourself Out" • "Note to Self" • "Too Far This Time" • "You Ain't Leaving (Thank God Are Ya)" • Vern Gosdin — "Is It Raining at Your House" • "Set 'Em Up, Joe" • Vince Gill — "Whippoorwill River" — Vince Gill • Wendel Adkins — "Slide Guitar" — Dennis Robbins

As a songwriter, early successes includes David Allan Coe's 1981 hit "Tennessee Whiskey". Dillon has written many singles for George Strait, including "Unwound", "Down and Out", "Marina del Rey", "The Chair", "Nobody in His Right Mind Would've Left Her", "It Ain't Cool to Be Crazy About You", "Ocean Front Property", "Famous Last Words of a Fool", "I've Come to Expect It from You", "If I Know Me", "Easy Come, Easy Go", "Lead On", "The Best Day", "She Let Herself Go", "Living for the Night", "Here for a Good Time", "Drinkin' Man", "I Believe" and "Every Little Honky Tonk Bar". Strait and his son Bubba co-wrote the latter five with Dillon.

• Year — Organization — Award — Nominee/Work — Result • 1987 — Academy of Country Music Awards — Song of the Year — "Nobody in His Right Mind Would've Left Her" • 1988 — "Ocean Front Property" • 1989 — "Set 'Em Up Joe" • 1997 — Country Music Association Awards — Song of the Year — "All the Good Ones Are Gone" • 1998 — Academy of Country Music Awards — Song of the Year • 2003 — "A Lot of Things Different" • 2013 — Poet's Award — Dean Dillon — Awarded • 2017 — Song of the Year — "Tennessee Whiskey"

As a recording artist between 1979 and 1983, Dillon charted eight times, including one top 30 hit, "I'm into the Bottle (To Get You out of My Mind)". He was featured on several duet albums with songwriting partner Gary Stewart. Early songwriting success earned Dillon a recording deal with Capitol Records for whom he released two studio albums. In 1991, now at Atlantic Records, Dillon released his most successful and most recent studio album, Out of Your Ever Lovin' Mind.

• Year — Organization — Award — Nominee/Work — Result • 1981 — Academy of Country Music Awards — Top New Male Vocalist — Dean Dillon • 1983 — Top Vocal Duo of the Year — Dean Dillon and Gary Stewart