George Strait is arguably the most respected and influential star in country music. With a career spanning nearly 40 years, the King of Country has amassed more No. 1 hits than any other artist in any other genre of music and has sold more than 100 million records.
Three years ago, Strait retired from touring. The decision didn’t hurt his popularity with country music fans. In fact, it seemed to bolster his career and create more interest in his music with a new generation of fans.
While Strait is no longer touring, he is playing select dates in Las Vegas. It was recently announced that the singer will be performing 10 dates over the course of five months in 2017 at the new T-Mobile Arena in Sin City. The opening act for Strait to Vegas will be country newcomer Kacey Musgraves.
On Saturday, Musgraves and Strait sat down for a Facebook Live session in which Strait answered questions posted by fans on his Facebook page. One question in particular caught our attention.
Fan Ryan Bridges asked the star, “Are there any songs you passed on recording that became big hits for other artists?”
“There’s a couple, but the biggest one was probably ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ that Dean Dillon wrote,” King George recalled. “Dean pitched that to me in the ’80s. I think it was around ’85, ’84 or something. And, I just didn’t….I missed it.”
Numerous artists would go on to record the tune including George Jones and, most recently, Chris Stapleton. It would also be credited with making an internet star our of a dad from central Texas whose video cover went viral in early January 2017.
Are you as curious as we are to hear George Strait sing “Tennessee Whiskey?” We can’t imagine how country music history may have changed had he recorded the song first. What do you think?
Check out Kris Jones‘ viral cover of “Tennessee Whiskey” below!
