Unwound: The George Strait Hit Almost Recorded by Another Singer

On April 23, 1981, a new country music star was born. George Strait released his first-ever single, “Unwound,” as the lead-off for his debut album, “Strait Country.” The song climbed to number 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart within a few months, becoming the first of many top-ten hits for the Texas-born singer.

The song helped cement the singer’s place in the industry and many fans still adore it today. However, the hit that helped launch Strait’s music career wasn’t actually written for him. It was only through a strange stroke of luck that “Unwound,” as we now know it, came to be 44 years ago today.

Strait Was New to Nashville in The Early 1980s

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As Biography explains, Strait wasn’t a big-time performer when he recorded “Unwound.” He served in the U.S. Army and studied agriculture before making a new for himself in country music. However, his time in the military did give him a chance to play in a band.

Before eventually coming to Nashville, Strait formed another band, “Ace in the Hole,” in his native Texas after finishing his military service. He made multiple attempts at securing a record deal before finally signing with RCA in 1981, and his first solo album followed soon after.

Johnny Paycheck Was Supposed to Record “Unwound”

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Although Strait was a newcomer to the Nashville music scene, fellow artist Johnny Paycheck had been making a name for himself for years. As American Songwriter shared, the songwriting duo that penned “Unwound” did so with Paycheck in mind, but the singer wasn’t able to record the track for a very unfortunate reason: He was in prison at the time.

As Chris Cohn explains in a video clip shared by American Country Network, Paycheck’s Missouri arrest left the song’s producers in a bind. However, their luck soon took a turn for the better, according to Cohn: “They caught their big break when they stumbled across a demo by a new kid out of Texas.” That kid was none other than George Strait.

Despite Having Dozens of #1 Hits, Strait Still Performs “Unwound”

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Although Strait has plenty of chart-topping hits to choose from, fans can still catch renditions of his first top-ten at concerts. The singer has included the classic song as part of his line-up many times over the years. For instance, in a video clip from 2024, Strait paid tribute to singer-songwriter Dean Dillon with a live performance of “Unwound.”

Dean Dillon was one half of the songwriting pair that first brought “Unwound” to life, and he wrote several other tunes that have also become unforgettable classics in Strait’s repertoire.