3 Songs That Were Almost George Strait Tracks Before Another Artist Cut Them

George Strait might be The King of Country, but he’s not the only country artist out there that’s looking for new material. Here are three songs that could have been George Strait hits if he hadn’t passed on them.

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“Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton

Dean Dillon has written hits all across the board for George Strait, from “The Chair” to “Unwound”. However, when Dillon wrote this one with Linda Hargrove, for some reason, it didn’t quite catch Strait’s ear. When talking about the song with Kacey Musgraves on Facebook Live, Strait even admitted that out of all the songs he chose not to cut, he really “missed it” with “Tennessee Whiskey”.

“There was a couple, but the biggest one was probably ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ that Dean Dillon wrote,” Strait explained in 2017. “And I think it’s up for Song of the Year this year at the ACM’s.”

“Tennessee Whiskey” would not win that ACM. However, it would go on to be the first country song to be certified as double diamond. The Chris Stapleton version of it, that is.

“Friends In Low Places” by Garth Brooks

Ah, yes, another massive hit. It seems that Strait and his team have a knack for rejecting songs that become standout tracks for another artist. Garth Brooks, who found major success with the song, told Taste of Country Nights that when he did the demo, he was trying to sound like George Strait on purpose.

“The reason they asked me to do the demo was because I wanted to be George Strait for years, so I do a pretty good impersonation of him,” he explained.

Years later, Strait would actually join Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, and Brooks on a version of “Friends In Low Places” for Brooks’ boxed set – Garth Brooks – The Ultimate Collection. In a way, we got the best of both worlds.

“Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” by Kenny Chesney

Written by Marty Dodson and Jim Collins, “Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven” ended up being a No. 1 hit for Kenny Chesney. Before that, though, it was pitched and cut by George Strait, as Dodson explained to Ryan Griff.

“We demoed it, we pitched it. George Strait cut it, pretty quickly,” the songwriter shared. “About two months later, they tell us that George decided not to put it on his record, and, so I was devastated.”

Little did Dodson know, George Strait had actually played the song for Kenny on his bus. Then Kenny saw that he wasn’t cutting it anymore. He gave Marty a call, and the rest was history.

Photo by: Kevin Winter/ACMA2010/Getty Images for ACMA