There might be a little “dust on David Lee Murphy, but don’t let it fool ya about what’s inside.”

David Lee, 59, has a bona fide hit on his hands with “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” which features vocals from Kenny Chesney. The tune is currently No. 12 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.

David Lee, who’s probably best known for his 1995 No. 1 hit, “Dust on the Bottle,” hadn’t scored a hit—as a singer—since 2004’s “Loco,” which reached No. 5. But over the last dozen or so years, the Illinois native has stayed busy as a songwriter, penning hits such as “Big Green Tractor” (Jason Aldean), “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” (Thompson Square), “Anywhere With You” (Jake Owen), “The More I Drink” (Blake Shelton), “’Til It’s Gone” (Kenny Chesney) and more.

After all of his success as a songwriter, why would David Lee go chasing another hit as a singer? Kenny Chesney is to blame . . . or thank, actually.

“I got talked into it by Kenny Chesney, but [I’m] loving every minute of it, you know?” says David Lee to Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown. “To go in and write songs five days a week, I love it. I love when I hear somebody record one of my songs. As a writer, when you hear somebody take one of your songs and make a hit out of it, it’s the coolest thing you can imagine, except if you’re singing it yourself. Kenny called me one night after several, you know, songs of mine that he had recorded, and we’ve written songs and become friends over the years, and he basically just said, ‘Man, you need to make a record again. Me and Buddy [Cannon] can produce it and put something out.’ He goes, ‘It’ll be fun. Man, we’ll have a ball. Go in the studio, no pressure.’ That was the perfect situation for me to do that.”

On April 6, David Lee dropped his new album, No Zip Code, which features 11 songs that he wrote or co-wrote.