Yes, George Strait Actually Wrote New Songs in His Career
It seems like every time the topic of “King” George Strait comes up in conversation, someone feels the need to pipe up how he’s a fraud of a country star because he never wrote any of his own songs.
First off, to make this accusation is to completely misunderstand the legacy of songwriting in country music, and how even some of the genre’s greatest performing songwriters like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, and so many others still relied on the songs of others to fill out their albums and even compose some of their biggest hits.
Yes, it’s always a bonus when a performer also writes many of their own songs. Alan Jackson and Toby Keith who wrote nearly all of their own material are the exceptions in the superstar realm. Taylor Swift is another one. Aside from that, most all other artists have relied on outside songwriter.
These days in the “songwriting by committee” era, it’s uncommon, if not impossible for a performer to not walk away with a songwriting credit under the “third for a word” rule, meaning if they change one word in a song, they get a third of the songwriting royalties (if there’s two other writers). This is nearly required for a song to be cut by a performer.
But there is an art form to selecting great songs, knowing what a great song is, and then singing the hell out of it like it’s your own once you’re in the studio. George Strait might have been the greatest to ever do this in country history, and made lots of money for songwriters like Dean Dillon and Jim Lauderdale over the years through it.
But George Strait actually did write songs himself throughout his career. Sure, they were rare, and nobody would mark George Strait as a preeminent songwriter in country music. But George Strait-written songs weren’t non-existent. At the start of his career, he actually wrote more. And now in the twilight of his career, he’s been writing more as well. He just found Dean Dillon and others early on, and decided he couldn’t match their level of songwriting. That’s how George Strait minted more #1s than anyone else in country history.
George Strait’s second album Strait From The Heart actually included a song he wrote by himself, the Western swing-inspired tune “I Can’t See Texas From Here.” Another solo write was released in 1995 via Strait’s box set Strait Out of the Box.
Starting with the 2009 album Twang when Strait’s radio relevance was starting to subside, this gave him an opportunity to start writing more of his own stuff as opposed to worrying about the commercial implications. Nonetheless, Strait co-wrote the title track to his 2011 album Here For a Good Time that went #2 in country, and has since become one of his signature songs. So yes, Strait even co-wrote on of his hits.
Many of the song Strait co-wrote later in were done with Dean Dillon, as well as Strait’s son Bubba, who works as a songwriter.
It was George Strait’s respect for the craft of songwriting that resulted in him relinquishing that position to others throughout most of his career. It’s also the reason the NSAI gave Strait the President’s Keystone Award in 2019 for his service to songwriting.
“I believe songwriting is a gift from God, and I think God has truly blessed all of you songwriters in here. I want to thank you all for sharing that talent with me over the years,” George Strait said in his acceptance speech.
No, George Strait was not a prolific songwriter. But it’s incorrect to say he never wrote at all. A list of his songwriting credits can be found below.
- “I Can’t See Texas From Here” – Strait From The Heart – 1982 (solo write)
- “I Just Can’t Go On Dying Like This” – Strait Out of the Box – 1995 (solo write)
- “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” – Twang – 2009
- “Living for the Night” – Twang – 2009
- “He’s Got That Something Special” – Twang – 2009
- “Drinkin’ Man” – Here For a Good Time – 2011
- “Shame On Me” – Here For a Good Time – 2011
- “Here for a Good Time” – Here For a Good Time – 2011 (#2 hit)
- “House Across the Bay” – Here For a Good Time – 2011
- “Three Nails and a Cross” – Here For a Good Time – 2011
- “Blue Marlin Blues” – Here For a Good Time – 2011
- “I’ll Always Remember You” – Here For a Good Time – 2011
- “I Believe” – Love Is Everything – 2013
- “That’s What Breaking Hearts Do” – Love Is Everything – 2013
- “The Night Is Young” – Love Is Everything – 2013
- “Let It Go” – Cold Beer Conversation – 2015
- “It Takes All Kinds” – Cold Beer Conversation – 2015
- “Everything I See” – Cold Beer Conversation – 2015
- “Kicked Outta Country” – Strait Outta The Box: Part 2 – 2016
- “Every Little Honky Tonk Bar” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “Blue Water” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “Sometimes Love” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “Código” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “Take Me Away” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “The Weight of the Badge” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “What Goes Up” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “Sing One with Willie” – Honky Tonk Time Machine – 2019
- “The Little Things” – Cowboys and Dreamers – 2024
- “The Book” – Cowboys and Dreamers – 2024
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April 8, 2026 @ 11:12 am
When I started listening to country music I was surprised to find out how few artists wrote their own music. I was used to the idea that the bands I listened to growing up (Rush, Journey, AC/DC, etc.) wrote all of their own stuff. But to think that discredits George Strait or any other performer is nonsense. On the other end of the spectrum, Don Schlitz wrote all sorts of hit songs, but couldn’t carry a tune if you put it in a bucket for him. But inexplicably, the Grand Ole Opry trots him out on stage routinely to nasally wheeze out the songs he wrote. I’ll take George Strait beautifully belting out a song written by someone else, vs. the opposite.
April 8, 2026 @ 11:50 am
True that!
April 8, 2026 @ 11:30 am
I like when an artist isn’t too full of themselves. They will choose a quality song vs “I wRotE iT MySeLF.” Country music & legendary songwriters go hand in hand. Are we coming after session pickers, too? Some people on here would drown in a rainstorm.
April 8, 2026 @ 11:49 am
Next you’re going to tell me the touring band isn’t playing on the record! 😉
April 8, 2026 @ 12:28 pm
I feel many take for granted the ability of a singer to unpack, interpret and emote the essence of any given quality song, line by line. George Strait has always been that kind of skilled, intuitive vocalist to me.
Outside of that, we know Nashville to be a highly collaborative place built on long-standing working relationships. I’ve heard time and time again in artist interviews the phrase “At the end of the day: the best song wins!” when determining which tracks will make the final cut on any given release, and the reality is that there are many singers who will at the very least occasionally write but often find one too many songs they’ve listened to and interpreted simply speak more deeply to them, so they are prioritized because…………again…………it’s an inherently collaborative place.
And Strait has definitely increased his writing output in the latter phase of his career as was pointed out.
April 8, 2026 @ 12:53 pm
Thanks Trigger for this article. I’m glad to see that George Strait is so respectful of songwriters. Especially in country music, songwriting is a real and respected profession. Although Trigger has shown how George has written/co-written some of his own songs, I’m one of those folks who wonders how much it matters to his standing as a great artist.
Consider the Trio— Dolly Parton is a helluva singer/songwriter. Emmylou Harris has been one of the finest vocalists in country music. Linda Ronstadt has been one of the finest vocalists in popular music. Help me here folks, but I don’t recall them being characterized as songwriters, yet you can’t deny their greatness as singer/performers. And just like George Strait, they pick great songs to sing.