Dean Dillon

Dean Dillon (born March 26, 1955) is an American country music artist and songwriter. Between 1982 and 1993, Dillon 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, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Dillon is the father of country music songwriter, Jessie Jo Dillon, and the two often collaborate.

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 finishing 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.

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 George Jones' 1983 hit "Tennessee Whiskey". Dillon has written many singles for George Strait, including "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," "Drinkin' Man" and "I Believe". Strait and his son Bubba co-wrote the latter three with Dillon.

Albums

Singles

Music videos

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: