Dean Dillon met Linda Hargrove when she was playing a show at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe. She was known as the “blue jean country queen.” They stayed up late into the night and wrote a song that would have a life of its own. The song would go on to be recorded by three iconic country singers and turned down by a fourth. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Tennessee Whiskey” by David Allan Coe, George Jones, and Chris Stapleton.
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Used to spend my nights out in a barroom
Liquor was the only love I’d known
But you rescued me from reachin’ for the bottom
And brought me back from being too far gone
Dean Dillon
George Strait recorded more than 60 songs written or co-written by Dillon. A 2020 Country Music Hall of Famer, Dillon also had songs recorded by such artists as Alabama, Kenny Chesney, Gary Stewart, Wendel Adkins, Shenandoah, Brooks & Dunn, David Kersh, Hank Williams Jr, Keith Whitley, Toby Keith, Vern Gosdin, Lorrie Morgan, Lee Ann Womack, Pam Tillis, Sammy Kershaw, and Vince Gill. Dillon also released albums of his own. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You’re as sweet as strawberry wine
You’re as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time
George Strait
Dillon wrote or co-wrote six of the 10 songs on George Strait’s debut album Strait Country. Dillon gave Strait the first chance to record the song, but he passed on “Tennessee Whiskey.” Dillon told Rolling Stone magazine, “It was no big deal. Shoot, I was playing him about 20 songs. It was just one more he passed on. I never held it against him.” Nevertheless, the song was going to get picked up many times over.
I’ve looked for love in all the same old places
Found the bottom of a bottle’s always dry
But when you poured out your heart, I didn’t waste it
‘Cause there’s nothing like your love to get me high
David Allan Coe
Billy Sherrill produced the album Tennessee Whiskey for David Allan Coe in 1981 as the Outlaw Country movement was falling from favor. The title track reached No. 77 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart. In 1974, Coe tasted success as an artist with “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” and in 1977 as a writer when Johnny Paycheck took “Take This Job and Shove It” to the top of the country chart. In 1984, Coe sang “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile” and took it to No. 2.
You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You’re as sweet as strawberry wine
You’re as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time
George Jones
Sherrill was also producing George Jones. After the wave of success started with “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Jones recorded “Tennessee Whiskey” and took it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Frank Sinatra would famously call Jones “the second-best singer in America.” Jones’ voice was in top form during this part of his career. Shine On peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You’re as sweet as strawberry wine
You’re as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time
Chris Stapleton
In Charlottesville, Virginia, during a soundcheck, Stapleton and his band played “Tennessee Whiskey” and decided to add it to their set. In February, Stapleton told Rolling Stone magazine, “It was a song we did as a cover. It was, ‘Well, let’s just play that tonight.'”
When it came time to record the album Traveller, Stapleton pulled it out again. “We were just goofing around, playing it to warm up, and [engineer] Vance [Powell] hit the red light,” he says. “And that’s what you hear.” They borrowed the melody from “I’d Rather Go Blind” by Etta James, but it didn’t receive much notice—that is until Justin Timberlake joined Stapleton to perform it at the 2015 CMA Awards. People took notice in a big way. The song topped the country charts and went on to sell six times Platinum.
You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
Tennessee whiskey
Tennessee whiskey
You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
Tennessee whiskey
Tennessee whiskey
Other Versions
In 2023, rapper T-Pain heard Stapleton’s version at a karaoke party and added it to his “sad playlist.” He said, “The lyrics spoke to me.” T-Pain recorded his own version of the song using his signature auto-tune. It went viral on TikTok and Instagram. Cas Haley, Teddy Swims, Keala Settle, Harry Dean Stanton, and Carin León each have also covered the song.
T-Pain says he considered incorporating “Tennessee Whiskey” into one of his songs: “I was initially looking it up to sample it to turn into a new song, but it was just too great to mess with.” Instead, he cut a faithful version for the 2023 album On Top of the Covers. Stapleton reacted to T-Pain’s version: “I was like, ‘Wow, man, he can really, really throw down.'”
Dillon thinks the song’s basic structure and melody stand on their own: “It’s a really simple song. It’s just saying, ‘You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey.’ It’s not ‘Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.’ I saw a guy and his daughter in their car on YouTube, and he’s driving her to school, and the song comes on the radio, and he’s singing on top of it. He did a fantastic version. They ought to put that out, too.”
Dillon is thankful for the long life the song has experienced. “I was good for retirement, but that song’s put me in a real nice position,” he said. “I’d still send a song to George [Strait]. But I’ll take a Chris Stapleton cut any day of the week.”
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Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
