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“Would If I Could” Co-Writer, Skip Ewing, Says It Was A “Blessing” To Have Ernest & Lainey Wilson Cut The Song Almost 30 Years After He Wrote It With Dean Dillon
How this song didn’t get recorded for almost 30 years is beyond me… Last year, Ernest put out an album called Nashville, Tennessee, which included a duet with Lainey Wilson called “Would If I Could.” And it actually has an incredibly interesting backstory, seeing as it was written in 1996 by two of the all-time great country music songwriters Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing in what was somehow their only writing collaboration together. He sent a solo version to country […] The post “Would If I Could” Co-Writer, Skip Ewing, Says It Was A “Blessing” To Have Ernest & Lainey Wilson Cut The Song Almost 30 Years After He Wrote It With Dean Dillon first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
How this song didn’t get recorded for almost 30 years is beyond me…
Last year, Ernest put out an album called Nashville, Tennessee, which included a duet with Lainey Wilson called “Would If I Could.” And it actually has an incredibly interesting backstory, seeing as it was written in 1996 by two of the all-time great country music songwriters Dean Dillon and Skip Ewing in what was somehow their only writing collaboration together.
He sent a solo version to country radio because Lainey had at least one other single starting to take off at radio, but nothing beats the duet version in my humble opinion.
It’s already stood the test of time, because the song is actually almost 30-years old. A little while back, legendary songwriter Dean Dean told Lost & Found Radio with Lori McKenna that he always knew it was a great song that for whatever reason just got tossed aside like so many unfortunately do:
“Skip and I had never written before, I don’t know who had the melody or who had the idea, but when we finished, I thought we had a great song.
There was more to it than a lot of other stuff I’ve written, but for whatever reason, and you know this yourself, it happens a lot. They just get pitched a couple times and that’s it. You never hear about them again. And then somebody somewhere dug this out of the trash can somewhere.”
Lainey actually first covered “Would If I Could” solo for a special Apple Music Sessions feature in 2023, and I was obsessed from the very first time I heard it. So when Ernest announced that they were turning it into a duet for his aforementioned project, I knew it would be special because it’s such a timeless and beautiful song. Classic is the word that comes to mind every time I hear it, which is a huge compliment especially in the music industry in 2025.
And during an appearance on RFD TV, Skip Ewing says it was “a treat” to have Lainey and Ernest finally cut this song, and he explained what a great job they did with it:
“Well, I mean, first of all, to have those guys do that song, what a treat. I think they are both just real artists, I like them both.
I don’t know them personally, but for them to choose to do that… what happened was, Apple Music sort of discovered this song, and asked Lainey if she would sing it as a version for Apple Music. That’s what she did first, and then Ernest heard it, and said, ‘Wait a minute… I want to put this on my project, why don’t you come sing a duet on that?’
Lainey did one version of it, and then Lainey and Ernest did another version of it, and then Ernest put the single out and it’s been on the charts now for 50-something weeks.”
He is still surprised that “Would If I Could” got uncovered and recorded, calling it “country as all get out” and pointing out how special it is:
“I mean, you just go, wow, how does that happen? It’s country as all get out. It is. I wanna say 1996, we might have written it back that far. It’s the only song that Dean Dillon and I ever wrote together, and it never got recorded, not sure why.
But I’m sure glad it got recorded… and I love, I can’t tell you… you get songs cut, and that’s wonderful, but some tings come together like that. Everything I know about Lainey and Ernest is talented in about every way that you can be talented, so what a blessing that was.”
Lainey and Ernest even performed it out on the road this year while Ern opened up her Whirlwind tour, and while I would’ve loved to see it become a chart-topping hit, it’s done very well, and it really is crazy to think how long it just sat around untouched and passed up by so many artists.
@maddygreeeen probably one of my favorite parts of the entire concert. they sounded so good together!! #laineywilson #ernest #phx1 #country ♬ original sound – maddy
It has such a classic sound and feel to it, but if there was anyone who could bring it into modern day and make it still sound like a timeless country hit, it’s Ernest and Lainey, and it’s cool to hear from Ewing’s perspective how much he loves what they did with it:
It makes you wonder how many other great songs like that have been left on the cutting room floor, and in a town like Nashville, where there are so many talented songwriters, it’s sad to think there’s probably thousands and thousands of great ones we’ll never hear.
But even though it took almost three decades, we did finally get to hear this one, and I couldn’t love it more. If you haven’t heard it yet, you’re missing out:
“Would If I Could”
The post “Would If I Could” Co-Writer, Skip Ewing, Says It Was A “Blessing” To Have Ernest & Lainey Wilson Cut The Song Almost 30 Years After He Wrote It With Dean Dillon first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
