Thirteen Country Hits That Were Almost Recorded By Other Artists

They say that a good song always ends up finding its way home. But sometimes, it takes a while.

Many times in Nashville, songs hang around for years after they’re written before an artist finally takes a chance on them. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t, but so many songs are written in Music City every day by so many talented songwriters that the journey a song takes often has many twists and turns before it finds its home.

Often, an artist will put a song on hold (meaning they’re indicating that they plan on recording it so that another artist doesn’t record it first), and then decide that it doesn’t fit on their album and they release it for other artists to claim. And sometimes songs are written with a specific artist in mind, but that artist will end up passing on it. Other times an artist will find a song they like that, but another artist is already planning on recording, so they’ll do some trading or negotiating (or begging) to get the song that they want.

Some of the biggest hits over the years have been songs that were eventually recorded by other artists, or that another artist passed on for one reason or another. It makes you wonder what would have happened if they had been released by somebody else: Would it still have been a hit? Would it have been a different song entirely?

We’ll never know, but it’s fun to think about – so here are 15 country songs that were passed up by other artists:

1. “Take Me Home, Country Roads”

The John Denver classic was written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and Denver, and while it wasn’t even really written about West Virginia, it’s become the anthem of the Mountain State (and one of their state songs).

But despite John Denver getting a songwriting credit on the finished product, Danoff and Nivert originally wanted to pitch their idea to Johnny Cash, thinking the pieces they had didn’t quite fit Denver’s style. Despite their concerns, they played the song for Denver one fateful night and immediately upon hearing it, he knew he needed to have it.

2. “Where The Wild Things Are”

Luke Combs had a massive hit with “Where The Wild Things Are,” from his 2023 album Gettin’ Old, which became his 18th #1 single. But the song was originally pitched to another country music superstar, who was planning on recording it.

During an interview with Country Now, some of Luke’s frequent collaborators discussed the song’s history, and revealed that it had even been pitched to Eric Church, who was going to record it but ultimately decided to pass:

“He almost cut it…I couldn’t believe that song couldn’t land somewhere.”

And Luke thought the story in the song would have made it a good fit for Church – but that it also may have been the reason it took so long for it to get picked up:

“At the time, nobody was cutting story songs at all, really. I mean, outside of Eric Church, probably.”

I bet Luke’s glad he took a chance on that one.

3. “Somebody Else Will”

Justin Moore scored his 6th #1 hit with “Somebody Else Will,” which was co-written by Kelly Archer, Adam Hambrick, and Tebey Ottoh and released on his 2016 album Kinda Don’t Care. The swaggy song finds Justin shooting his shot with a girl in the bar before somebody else does – which makes it all the more surprising that Rascal Flatts was originally set to record the song: Could you imagine Gary LeVox singing about hitting on a girl in a bar?

Co-writer Adam Hambrick revealed during an appearance on The Justin Moore Podcast that the boy band had the song on hold, and that he was surprised when he found out that it was Justin who recorded it.

According to Hambrick, his manager texted him on the day of the recording that “Somebody Else Will” had been cut. Hambrick, meanwhile, thought that Rascal Flatts still had the song on hold and assumed they had been the ones to cut it.

Later that evening Hambrick met up with Justin at the Tin Roof in Nashville. After a round of shots, Justin told Hambrick that he thought “Somebody Else Will” was going to be a hit. Confused at how Justin had heard a song that Rascal Flatts had just cut, Hambrick’s manager informed him that it had actually been Justin who had recorded the song earlier in the day.

And I think we’re all glad that he did – including Hambrick:

“That’s like a swaggy song, right…Flatts doing that, I was like, ‘That’s a little weird but I’m pumped about a Rascal Flatts cut.’

So when you said you cut it I’m like ‘THAT’S who needs to cut it!’”

A song always finds its way home eventually.

4. “Drink A Beer”

The emotional Luke Bryan song was actually written by Chris Stapleton. It took on a special significance for Luke, who tragically lost his brother shortly before moving to Nashville. But the song was originally pitched to Dierks Bentley, who ended up passing on it and giving Luke the chance to make it a hit.

5. “Good Directions”

Luke Bryan co-wrote “Good Directions,” which went on to become Billy Currington’s biggest hit. And he wrote it with the intention of recording it himself for his debut album, but Luke eventually decided to hand the song off to somebody else, and it ended up on Currington’s 2005 album Doin’ Something Right. Luke did eventually release his version of the song though, recording it as a bonus track on his 2006 album I’ll Stay Me.

6. “Big Green Tractor”

One of Jason Aldean’s biggest hits, “Big Green Tractor,” was originally pitched to Jake Owen. But Jake didn’t feel like it would be authentic to sing about something he couldn’t relate to, so he ended up passing. As Jake recalled:

“I just kind of stepped back and swallowed my pride and opened myself up to the idea of recording somebody else’s songs. I mean, I passed on ‘Big Green Tractor’ ’cause I didn’t grow up riding around on a big, green, John Deere tractor. Then Jason Aldean cuts it and it’s the biggest song of the year.

My brother said to me, ‘Jake, no one (cares). Johnny Cash did not shoot a man in Reno.’ So now I know that if a song’s a good song, or a great song, I need to record it.”

7. “The House That Built Me”

Miranda Lambert scored one of the biggest hits of her career with “The House That Built Me,” which was released on her Revolution album back in 2009. But the song was originally set to be recorded by her then-husband, Blake Shelton, until he saw how much Miranda connected to the song and decided to let her have it instead.

8. “Chicken Fried”

Undeniably the biggest song from the Zac Brown Band, “Chicken Fried” was originally set to be recorded by a country legend – but he changed his mind at the last minute.

Alan Jackson was planning on recording “Chicken Fried,” but because his last single “Where I Come From” also mention fried chicken, he didn’t want to release yet another fried chicken song:

“Man, I just had a song about cornbread and chicken, and I had a song about bologna. Every album I’ve got has these songs about food, so I just don’t think I want to do one about chicken fried right now. In retrospect, I should have done it.”

I’m not sure if it would have been as big of a hit if Alan Jackson had recorded it, but I still want to hear his version.

9. “American Honey”

Lady Antebellum (now just known as Lady A) won a Grammy Award for Best Country Album for their 2010 album Need You Now, which contained their third #1 hit “American Honey.” But the song, written by Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsey, and Shane Stevens, was originally pitched to Carrie Underwood, who decided to pass on the song.

10. “Jesus Take The Wheel”

Carrie Underwood’s debut country single was written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson, but as it turns out, nobody had much faith in the song at first. The songwriters almost didn’t even record the song as a demo to pitch to artists, because they weren’t sure that listeners would connect with it. And after the demo was ready, the song was originally pitched to Sara Evans – who reportedly called it “stupid” and passed on recording it.

But then-newcomer Carrie Underwood released it as her first single back in 2006, and as they say, the rest is history. Not so stupid now, eh?

11. “Friends In Low Places”

One of the biggest songs of the ’90s, and the biggest song of Garth’s career, was almost recorded by another country legend.

The demo for the song was recorded by Garth, who was getting ready to release his debut album. Because the album was almost done, there wasn’t any room for “Friends In Low Places.” But the writers had somebody else in mind, as Garth reported in his book The Anthology Part 1:

“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.

So the original demo of ‘Friends in Low Places’ I did my best George Strait on it before I ever had a record deal.”

Yeah, I honestly can’t imagine George Strait singing this one. But maybe that’s just because it’s become such a massive song for Garth Brooks at this point.

12. “Whiskey Lullaby”

The heartbreaking duet for Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss was originally pitched to Dierks Bentley – but it was just too depressing.

As Dierks told The Boot:

“I turned down ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ (because) I never heard it as a duet. The guy who co-wrote that song is one of my good friends – Jon Randall. I thought, ‘It’s a great song, but it’s pretty dang depressing.’ I write plenty of songs like that. It was just not for me. That’s why I end up writing most of my music … every line has to be right for me because I’m singing these songs for the rest of my life. But, I love ‘Whiskey Lullaby.’ It’s one of my favorite songs that Brad sings.”

13. “American Kids”

It’s hard to imagine this song by anybody other than Kenny Chesney. But according to co-writer Shane McAnally, it was actually almost recorded by Little Big Town.

According to McAnally, once Kenny heard the song he knew he had to have it – though he had to get Little Big Town to give it up.

“I got back home and talked to Little Big Town about it. They were very gracious. Basically, what Kenny was saying, he just felt like it was undoubtedly the next single, the song that would launch his album and his tour. At that point, Little Big Town had so many songs in the mix, they understood that attention on a song is different than just putting it on hold and trying it out.”

The summery song is quintessential Kenny Chesney, and you’ve gotta think there’s no way it would have been as big if Little Big Town had recorded it.The post Thirteen Country Hits That Were Almost Recorded By Other Artists first appeared on Whiskey Riff.