That’s why it’s even more impressive to look at the career of Mr. Dean Dillon. Recently I had a chance to saddle up for a trail ride in New Mexico (get a look here) at a good friend’s ranch, and they brought in a few musicians to play private concerts. All of them were great, but a special hush came across the dirty, tired faces of my compadres when the famed songwriter picked up the guitar.

He lit up a cigarette and spent the evening spinning threads on working with some of the biggest names in country music, writing some of the industry’s most notable songs, and playing a few of them in his own timbre—that’s something you don’t get to hear every day, and I’ll never forget it. We all know we were in the presence of someone who doesn’t come along often. Actually, scratch that. We’ll never get another Dean Dillon.

There’s a chance you might be thinking, “Who is he talking about?” I don’t blame you. Even for someone of his creative caliber, I already mentioned that songwriters tend to fly under the radar. There are more than a few rundowns on his career as a songwriter, so for the sake of brevity, I’ll put it this way—if you’ve listened to country music for any amount of time, Dean Dillon has written one of your favorite songs. He’s written more than a few of mine.

That’s the angle I’d like to tackle this introduction from. If you want a biographical essay, a quick search will give you a few, but I’d like to look at Mr. Dillon’s career from a more personal angle. Here are five of my all-time-favorite songs that he penned, in chronological order.

“What Would Your Memories Do”

From Vern Gosdin’s ‘There Is a Season’ (1984)

As a wave of old-school country swept across the 1980s, Vern Gosdin was riding it right at the front, and this hit from Dillon is a prime example. It’s a slow, swinging ballad in the style of Lefty Frizzell that’d get the George Strait treatment just a few years later.

“Miami, My Amy”

From Keith Whitley’s ‘LA to Miami’ (1985)

One of the saddest stories in country music, Keith Whitley was primed to join the ranks of the industry’s best, but the story ended early upon his death in 1989. Luckily, he had time to drop some absolute classics on us, including his album L.A. to Miami, which opened with Dillon’s “Miami, My Amy.”

“Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her”

From George Strait’s ‘#7’ (1986)

George Strait’s career was already exploding in 1986 when he released #7, and Dean Dillon was a big part of it from the beginning, starting with “Unwound” in 1981. Eventually, he’d write a whopping 68 songs for Strait, and “Nobody in His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her” stands out as one of his finest.

“An Empty Glass”

From Gary Stewart’s ‘Brand New’ (1988)

In my opinion, Gary Stewart is one of the most underrated names in country music. Ever. His voice was one-of-a-kind, able to transform a ballad like Dillon’s “Empty Glass” into a honky-tonk heartbreaker of the highest order.

“Tennessee Whiskey”

From Chris Stapleton’s ‘Traveller’ (2015)

Alright, if I haven’t rung any bells for you by now, you’re out of excuses with this one. Dillon wrote this song for another legendary singer by the name of George Jones in 1983, and it achieved its fair share of success. But, when a young performer named Chris Stapleton put his own style to it in 2015, the song went from being a country-music hit to being a global hit. For once, the entire world got to hear what Dean Dillon was capable of, even if they didn’t know he wrote it.

Like I said, Dillon wrote 68 songs for George Strait alone, which should tell you that he wrote a lot of songs for a lot of artists. I hope this’ll at least give you a starting point to enjoy more of his work because there’s a lot of great listening to be had. So, next time you’re sipping a cheap whiskey under the neon lights of your favorite dive bar and you find yourself tapping a boot to the song on the jukebox, just remember that there’s an uncelebrated songwriter behind it—and there’s a good chance his name is Dean Dillon.