The best country music cover songs convince fans that they're originals. Darius Rucker did it in 2013 with "Wagon Wheel," and Chris Stapleton did too, in 2015.
Miranda Lambert did it a few years before that, but in that case, her version was original. You'll see.
The 25 songs found on this list of the best covers in country are all recorded covers. So, if your favorite artist chose to cover a song in concert but never put it to tape, that doesn't count.
Decades ago, covering songs and re-releasing them to radio was in fashion. It didn't matter if the original was released 10, five or even two years ago. This lasted through the 1990s, but in the 21st century it's exceedingly rare to find a good cover song on the radio.
Interpolations of songs -- Chris Young mixing the guitar riff of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" into "Young Love & Saturday Nights," for example -- are far more common. That's a shame, because George Strait has some hits that deserve to find a new audience via a contemporary cover.