Brad Paisley’s 2004 hit “Whiskey Lullaby”, recorded with Alison Krauss, was initially passed over by Dierks Bentley and The Chicks. The song became a multi-platinum success and a defining track from Paisley’s album Mud on the Tires, illustrating how a recording can find its most effective artist and arrangement after earlier rejections.

Written by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall, the tragic country ballad was considered too depressing by Bentley, who said he did not initially hear it as a duet. The Chicks also held the song before declining it, enabling Paisley to record it; Paisley then proposed Krauss as his duet partner, believing her voice suited the song’s ghostly, bluegrass-influenced tone.