# Dean Dillon

Dean Dillon (born Larry Dean Flynn; March 26, 1955) is an American country musician and songwriter. Between 1982 and 1993, he recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the Billboard country charts. Since 1993, Dillon has continued to write hit songs for other artists, most notably George Strait.
In 2002, Dillon was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2020, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

## Early life

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.

## Career
### Recording artist

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.

### Songwriter

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.

### Record label

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.

## Personal life

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

## Discography
### Albums

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

### Singles

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

### Music videos

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

## Songs written

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 |
| George Strait | "Any Old Love Won't Do" | Frank Dycus |
| George Strait | "Back to Bein' Me" | Hank Cochran |
| George Strait | "Down and Out" | Frank Dycus |
| George Strait | "Drinkin' Man" | George Strait, Bubba Strait |
| George Strait | "Easy Come, Easy Go" | Aaron Barker |
| George Strait | "Famous Last Words of a Fool" | Rex Huston |
| George Strait | "For Christ's Sake, It's Christmas" | Hank Cochran |
| George Strait | "Four Down and Twelve Across" | Tom Douglas |
| George Strait | "Friday Night Fever" | Frank Dycus, Blake Mevis |
| George Strait | "Give Me More Time" | Al Anderson, Scotty Emerick |
| George Strait | "Good News, Bad News" | Dale Dodson, Lee Ann Womack |
| George Strait | "Her Goodbye Hit Me in the Heart" | Frank Dycus |
| George Strait | "He's Got That Something Special" | George Strait, Bubba Strait |
| George Strait | "Holding My Own" | Pam Belford |
| George Strait | "Honk If You Honky Tonk" | Ken Mellons, John Northrup |
| George Strait | "Honky Tonk Crazy" | Frank Dycus |
| George Strait | "Honkytonkville" | Buddy Brock, Kim Williams |
| George Strait | "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore" | Scotty Emerick, Maria Cannon-Goodman |
| George Strait | "I Believe" | George Strait, Bubba Strait |
| George Strait | "I Get Along With You" | Frank Dycus, Murray F. Cannon, Raleigh Squires, and Jimmy Darrell |
| George Strait | "I'd Just as Soon Go" | Aaron Barker |
| George Strait | "If I Know Me" | Pam Belford |
| George Strait | "If Heartaches Were Horses" | Buddy Brock, Wil Nance |
| George Strait | "If It's Gonna Rain" | Scotty Emerick, Donny Kees |
| George Strait | "I'm All Behind You Now" | |
| George Strait | "Is It That Time Again" | Buddy Cannon, Vern Gosdin |
| George Strait | "It Ain't Cool to Be Crazy About You" | Royce Porter |
| George Strait | "I've Come to Expect It From You" | Buddy Cannon |
| George Strait | "Lead On" | Teddy Gentry |
| George Strait | "Living for the Night" | George Strait, Bubba Strait |
| George Strait | "Marina del Rey" | Frank Dycus |
| George Strait | "Nobody in His Right Mind Would've Left Her | |
| George Strait | "Ocean Front Property" | Hank Cochran, Royce Porter |
| George Strait | "Peace of Mind" | Aaron Barker |
| George Strait | "Rockin' in the Arms of Your Memory" | Norro Wilson |
| George Strait | "She Let Herself Go" | Kerry Kurt Phillips |
| George Strait | "She's Playing Hell Trying to Get Me to Heaven" | David Wills, Charles Quillen |
| George Strait | "She Took the Wind From His Sails" | Donny Kees |
| George Strait | "That's My Kind of Woman" | Tammy Hyler |
| George Strait | "That's the Breaks" | Royce Porter |
| George Strait | "That's Where I Wanna Take Our Love" | Hank Cochran |
| George Strait | "The Best Day" | Carson Chamberlain |
| George Strait | "The Breath You Take" | Jessie Jo Dillon, Casey Beathard |
| George Strait | "The Chair" | Hank Cochran |
| George Strait | "The Road Less Traveled" | Buddy Brock |
| George Strait | "Unwound" | Frank Dycus |
| George Strait | "We're Supposed to Do That Now and Then" | David Anthony, Joseph-Nicholas-Pancrac Royer |
| George Strait | "West Texas Town" | Robert Earl Keen |
| George Strait | "What Would Your Memories Do" | Hank Cochran |
| George Strait | "When You're in Love" | Kerry Kurt Phillips |
| George Strait | "Without Me Around" | John Northrup |
| George Strait | "Without You Here" | Royce Porter |
| George Strait | "You Sure Got This Ol' Redneck Feelin' Blue" | Buzz Rabin |
| Hank Williams, Jr., Waylon Jennings, and Ernest Tubb | "Leave Them Boys Alone" | Gary Stewart |
| Keith Whitley | "Miami, My Amy" | Hank Cochran, Royce Porter |
| Keith Whitley | "Homecoming '63" | Royce Porter |
| Kenny Chesney | "A Chance" | Royce Porter |
| Kenny Chesney | "A Lot of Things Different" | Bill Anderson |
| Kenny Chesney | "Be As You Are" | Kenny Chesney |
| Kenny Chesney | "Boats" | Kenny Chesney, Scotty Emerick |
| Kenny Chesney | "Guitars and Tiki Bars" | Kenny Chesney, Mark Tamburino |
| Kenny Chesney | "I'm Alive" | Kenny Chesney, Mark Tamburino |
| Kenny Chesney | "She Always Says It First" | Kenny Chesney |
| Kenny Chesney | "Soul of a Sailor" | Kenny Chesney, Scotty Emerick |
| Kenny Chesney | "The Angel at the Top of My Tree" | Kenny Chesney, Buddy Cannon |
| Lee Ann Womack | "Have You Seen That Girl?" | |
| Lee Ann Womack | "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" | |
| Pam Tillis | "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 |
| Toby Keith | "Ain't No Right Way" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "Burnin' Moonlight" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "Get My Drink On" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "Go with Her" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "I Ain't Already There" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "Knock Yourself Out" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "Note to Self" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "Too Far This Time" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Toby Keith | "You Ain't Leaving (Thank God Are Ya)" | Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick |
| Vern Gosdin | "Is It Raining at Your House" | |
| Vern Gosdin | "Set 'Em Up, Joe" | |
| Vince Gill | "Whippoorwill River" | Vince Gill |
| Wendel Adkins | "Slide Guitar" | Dennis Robbins |

## Awards and nominations
### As a recording artist

| Year | Organization | Award | Nominee/Work | Result |
| 1983 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Top Vocal Duo of the Year | Dean Dillon and Gary Stewart | Nominated |