Dean Dillon

born on March 26, 1955, in Lake City, TN,

born on March 26, 1955, in Lake City, TN,

Dean learned to play guitar at a young age. At 15, he appeared in a local Knoxville variety show as a songwriter and performer and like most Tennesseans who can sing he had his mind set on Nashville.

From almost the first day in Nashville, Dean was on his way. He met songwriter Frank Dycus, who introduced him to idol and honky tonk legend Merle Haggard. He landed a job at the Opryland Theme Park and worked with ex-Porter Wagoner fiddler Mac McGahey's combo. In 1976, he landed the role of Hank Williams in the Country Music Show at Opryland. a friend introduced him to songwriter John Schweers, who became Dean's mentor. Three weeks later, Barbara Mandrell recorded three of Dean's songs. 1979 was a break through for Dean when Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius had a number one hit with his "Lying Here in Love with You."

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70 & 80's Dean charts 8 times

The late 70's early 80's saw Dean chart 8 times and finally he broke into the top 30 with "I'm into the Bottle (To Get You Out of My Mind)." During this time he was also writing for other top country stars including the 1983 George Jones hit "Tennessee Whiskey."

1983 saw Dean pair up with Gary Stewart, the "King of the Honky Tonkers." The two mens' vices fed off of one another, and while their two bleary, good-timing albums were successful (especially 1982's Brotherly Love), the partnership had little use for the straight and narrow. After Those Were the Days, Dillon took a five-year break from recording, cleaned up his personal life, and concentrated on songwriting. He wrote or co-wrote a number of hits during this period, and had considerable success with George Strait, who took five of his songs to the charts between 1985-1988. This exposure help land Dean a new contract with Capitol, who released two Ricky Scruggs-produced albums, Slick Nickel and I've Learned to Live.

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Signs for Atlantic

After leaving Capitol Dillon signed with Atlantic, it was for Atlantic that he produced his most successful album. 1991's Out of Your Ever Lovin' Mind it was a mix of hard country and pop.

Dean stopped performing, and his songwriting career thrived for the rest of the 1990s, he continued to work with George Strait and new stars like Kenny Chesney.

Dean Dillon

Albums :
Out of your Ever lovin mind,
Hot Country and Single,
I've Learned to Live,
Slick Nickel,

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