‘You’ll always be, home sweet home to me’

Anybody within earshot immediately jumped to their feet.

Tucked away in the heart of the Old City in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, the Jackson Terminal is a former railroad freight depot now modern-day event venue. And on a recent Saturday evening, Andy and Ashley Wagner got hitched. As the happy couple celebrated their nuptials, the song “Rocky Top” overtook the speakers, echoing loudly throughout the large space, all while several tables cleared, heading straight for the dance floor. 

“The first thing that comes to mind when I hear ‘Rocky Top’ is a slideshow of images from East Tennessee,” Andy said. “The nostalgia I feel from my time at The University of Tennessee, along with adventures in the Great Smoky Mountains through the years, all flood my mind.”

Originally from rural south-central Pennsylvania, Andy was a walk-on for the UT Swimming & Diving team in 2000. But, after an injury, he picked up the tuba and joined the UT “Pride of the Southland Band” for three football seasons (2001-2003). His wife, Ashley, a Peoria, Illinois, native, also found herself at UT, where she was a member of the Color Guard in 2007 and 2008. 

Though both lived in Knoxville for several years, and also had mutual friends from the UT marching band, the couple only met 4 years ago, at a Halloween party. And during their courtship, they attended countless UT football games, their voices hoarse after each match from singing “Rocky Top” at the top of their lungs innumerable times.

“Win or lose, in all occasions, [‘Rocky Top’] will make you smile and beam with pride in everything it represents. ‘Rocky Top’ represents our culture, not just a touchdown or victory,” Andy said. “You can be far from Knoxville [or East Tennessee], and there is almost always someone who participates with a good ole ‘Rocky Top’ [shout] ‘Wooo!’ when the song is played at a bar or restaurant.”

Andy and Ashley—two souls, from two different parts of the country, brought together by UT, finding love while immersed in East Tennessee, with “Rocky Top” at the core of their unity. 

“Having ‘Rocky Top’ playing, with all my friends and loved ones dancing and celebrating—what can you do other than smile?” Andy said. “We all have shared so many memories together through the years, many with ‘Rocky Top’ playing in the background. The strong majority of people who attended our wedding have several heart strings that play ‘Rocky Top’—our wedding wouldn’t have been complete without playing that song.”

Songwriting Gold

To get to the heart of the lore of “Rocky Top,” you’ve got to start with the songwriting husband-and-wife duo that was Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (pronounced “bood-low”). Born Matilda Genevieve Scauto in 1925, Felice hailed from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while Boudleaux (whose first name was Diadorius) was raised in Shellman, Georgia. 

Trained as a classical violinist, Boudleaux (born 1920) found himself in the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra for a stretch in 1937 and 1938. But, with a keen interest and passion for rural music (what we could call “country music” today), Boudleaux wanted to play nightclubs and backwoods get-togethers, ultimately joining Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys, an Atlanta-based western group. 

In 1945, while performing one day at the Sherwood Hotel in Milwaukee, Boudleaux met Felice, an instant connection emerging between them, to which they eloped some two days later. According to Felice, she had seen Boudleaux’s face in a dream when she was a kid, and had spent her life searching for the face. Felice was an elevator operator at the Sherwood when Boudleaux stepped into the elevator. That instant recognition between two unknown souls—now soulmates—is what led to Boudleaux writing the song “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” which became a number one hit in 1958 for The Everly Brothers. 

The Bryants started writing songs together, eventually joining Acuff-Rose Music, an American music publishing company co-owned by Roy Acuff, the “King of Country Music.” The couple found enormous success penning several chart-topping hits for The Everly Brothers—“Bye Bye, Love” (#1), “Wake Up, Little Susie” (#2), “All I Have To Do Is Dream” (#1) “Bird Dog” (#2) and “Problems” (#2). They also wrote hit melodies for Little Jimmy Dickens, Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, whose use of “Love Hurts” found a whole new audience when it again topped the charts at number eight in 1975 with a cover by Scottish rock act Nazareth. 

In the decades after they first struck songwriting gold, The Bryants were regarded as one of the most successful songwriting teams in the history of music. Throughout their extensive and bountiful career, they wrote some 6,000 songs, with around 1,500 recorded by artists ranging from Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris to Jim Reeves, Bob Dylan to The Beach Boys, Ray Charles to Skeeter Davis. 

Receiving dozens of industry awards during their career, The Bryants were elected into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1972), Songwriters Hall of Fame (1986), Rockabilly Hall of Fame (1991) and Country Music Hall of Fame (1991). Boudleaux passed away in 1987 at age 67. In 2003, Felice died at age 77 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. At the time of her death, it had been estimated the couple sold more than half-a-billion records worldwide, with their melodies as beloved today as they were over half-a-century ago.

The Osborne Brothers

As The Bryants piled up the hits, they decided to start their own in-house operation—House of Bryant Publications. Back then, record labels had specific contracts with publishing companies, which meant if you were an artist on a certain label, you could only record and play songs written by the publishers the labels had agreements with. This was a time before most big-name stage artists wrote their own material, where the real money was being made by the songwriters and publishers. 

But, that didn’t stop Bobby Osborne from recording “Rocky Top.” 

Lead singer of legendary group The Osborne Brothers—a pillar of bluegrass and country music—Bobby and his brother/bandmate, banjoist Sonny, knew The Bryants well from their hit records and because the siblings lived near the couple in Nashville. In 1967, The Osborne Brothers were due into the studio to make an album for Decca Records. 

“We were scheduled to do a [studio] session for Decca, and we only had three songs. Back in those days you needed four songs for the three-hour session. We lacked one song to have enough,” Bobby said. “We lived close to Felice and Boudleaux. We had recorded a lot of their songs in the past, and Sonny went over [to their house] to see if they had any songs we could use the following day [in the studio].” 

After shuffling through whatever songs The Bryants had that were “studio ready,” Boudleaux brought out a half-finished “Rocky Top.” Sonny was captivated by the lyrics and immediately called Bobby. 

“Sonny said, ‘You ought to drive over here and listen to this song. I think we can pick us a good song [with ‘Rocky Top’],” Bobby remembered. 

The Osborne Brothers told Boudleaux if he finished the words for “Rocky Top” that day, then they would bring it into the studio to record the following morning. Thinking about how to approach the song in studio, Bobby felt they should use the same technique used when they covered “Roll Muddy River” by The Wilburn Brothers.

“[With ‘Roll Muddy River’], what The Wilburn Brothers did was sing the music fast and play it slow. When we recorded it, we changed it around—play the music fast, sing it slow,” Bobby said. “When I heard ‘Rocky Top,’ [Boudleaux] was singing it the same way, real slow, and I got to thinking if we sped it up, [it would work.]”

At that time, The Osborne Brothers were signed under Sure-Fire Music, a publishing house run by The Wilburn Brothers, an iconic country duo (Virgil and Teddy Wilburn) whose countless hits included “Sparkling Brown Eyes” (with Webb Pierce, 1954), “Go Away with Me” (1956), “Mister Love” (with Ernest Tubb, 1957), “Trouble’s Back in Town” (1962) and “Hurt Her Once for Me” (1966), amongst many others. With that contract, a slight tension arose between Sure-Fire and The Osborne Brothers when they came to the studio with “Rocky Top,” a composition from the House of Bryant Publications and not “in-house” at Sure-Fire. 

“And naturally, [Sure-Fire] wanted us to do their songs. We [told] Teddy [Wilburn] we wanted to do [‘Rocky Top’], and Teddy said [we could because] he was good friends with Boudleaux and Felice, so we recorded it,” Bobby said. 

Released on Christmas Day 1967, “Rocky Top” wasn’t the melodic sensation as we know it today. It hovered on the radio, hitting #33 on the U.S. Country charts. But, that soon changed in the following months, years and decades.

“It kind of laid down for about six months. So, we stopped doing it and I forgot the lyrics,” Bobby chuckled. “All of a sudden it took off and people wanted to hear it, so I had to relearn the words to it.”

The Lucky Hotel Room

The backstory of how “Rocky Top” came about began starts with Room 388 of the Gatlinburg Inn in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Whenever The Bryants got an assignment to write some songs, or even just the urge to sit down and create, they’d hightail it to the inn in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. It was in that specific room where many of their hits were written, with 388 becoming a lucky charm for the couple. 

According to The Bryants’ son, Del, in 1967 the songwriting team was asked by comedian/singer Archie Campbell (who later became a well-known on-air talent for the CBS show “Hee Haw”) to write songs for an RCA album he had in mind (“Golden Years”). With a somewhat “older audience,” Campbell was looking for selections that would harken back to the “good ole days” of being self-reliant, selfless, and also having a sense of self when it came to the grand scheme of things. So, The Bryants headed up to Room 388 and started work on some new material. 

“They were writing for ‘Golden Years’ for Archie, and they had almost finished, and mom one afternoon [in Room 388] said, ‘Boudleaux, I just feel like the only thing getting old in this deal is me, these songs are wearing me out. These are great songs, but can’t we do something up-tempo or something different?’” Del reminisced. “Dad said, ‘No, we’re almost finished. We only have a couple more to write, then we’ll do anything you want to do.’ And Mom just couldn’t accept that. Finally, [Boudleaux] got just a little bit perturbed and grabbed his little guitar, started beating on it, singing ‘Wish that I was on ol’ Rocky Top, down in the Tennessee hills.’ He stopped and said, ‘How do you like that?’ Not really honestly questioning her, but ‘how you like that?’ She said, ‘I like it, I like it. Let’s write it’ And they wrote ‘Rocky Top’ in about ten or fifteen minutes, then go on to the rest of the ‘Golden Years’ album. It was only months later that The Osborne Brothers were looking for something [to record].” 

About three years ago, Bobby Osborne found himself in the East Tennessee town on tour. Osborne was approached by the manager of the inn who said he had a special room for him—Room 388.

“When I got my mandolin and everything in the room, there was a sign on the wall that said, ‘This is the room where was Rocky Top was written,’” Osborne recalled. “It felt strange, and I got to looking around the room. The furniture wasn’t up to date furniture, just old-time furniture. I went downstairs and asked why there wasn’t any new furniture. [The guy] said when [Felice and Boudleaux] passed away, they secured the room and nobody has stayed in it since, and I was the first one to be allowed to stay there.”

The Sound of East Tennessee

It’s been exactly 50 years since “Rocky Top” was written by The Bryants and recorded by The Osborne Brothers. And in that time, the tune has become not only an “Official State Song of Tennessee” (in 1982), it also has become a global symbol of unity and pride for East Tennessee and greater Southern Appalachia. 

“Bluegrass has been fortunate to have a few some songs over the years cross over to reach mainstream music fans. These songs have helped introduce bluegrass to broader audiences and further its popularity all over the world,” said Paul Schiminger, president of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). “While many of these ‘breakthrough’ songs have been tied to TV or the movies, ‘Rocky Top’ is the exception. ‘Rocky Top’ had commercial success on the country charts, while also becoming popular in the bluegrass circles. The popularity of ‘Rocky Top’ has spread throughout the country and abroad, to even becoming the ‘Official State Song of Tennessee.’ For people who only have a passing familiarity with bluegrass, ‘Rocky Top’ is one song they almost assuredly know—it is also a song that will be played forever.”

And that sentiment for “Rocky Top” is also shared by Ted Olson.

“As one who has lived ‘down in the Tennessee hills’ for many years, I certainly recognize the anthemic power of ‘Rocky Top’ to move people from East Tennessee emotionally,” he said, “As a musician and a scholar of Appalachian music, I primarily respond to the brilliant craftsmanship that infuses the song. The Bryants were among the most successful songwriting collaborations of their generation, and they created some of the most treasured songs in post-World War II vernacular music. ‘Rocky Top’ is among the Bryants’ finest creations, reflecting the marriage of compositional ingenuity and lyrically-clever myth-making.”

A professor in the Department of Appalachian Studies at Eastern Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, Olson is regarded as one of the leading figures in terms of academic research and analytical approaches to the rich and vibrant history of Southern Appalachian music, people and culture. 

“In many respects, ‘Rocky Top’ is a kind of anthem, and not only in its prominent roles as a Tennessee state song and as a University of Tennessee athletic morale booster,” Olson noted. “When they travel away from home, people from East Tennessee have been known to smile or break down in tears of homesickness upon hearing strains of ‘Rocky Top’ in live performances or via the media. And obviously many people with no strong connection to East Tennessee love the song, because ‘Rocky Top’ has been recorded by many national touring acts, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Phish and Scrawl. ‘Rocky Top’ will no doubt remain a favorite song in the repertoires of countless country and bluegrass acts and their audiences into the far future, as people will continue to be moved by its memorable expression of pride in one’s home place, whether that home place is in the Great Smokies or somewhere else on Earth.” 

Although “Rocky Top” was a hit for The Osborne Brothers, who brought the song to the mainstream in 1967, its popularity grew even more when the melody was covered by country star Lynn Anderson, reaching #17 on the U.S. Country charts in 1970. 

A couple years later, in October 1972, the song was used by the University of Tennessee’s “Pride of the Southland Band” during a football halftime show against the University of Alabama. It had such a positive, enthusiastic (bordering on fanatical) response from the crowd, “Rocky Top” has been played and sung at every UT football game (and other UT sporting events) ever since. Although it isn’t the official fight song of UT (“Down the Field” holds that honor), “Rocky Top” has become a cornerstone of UT culture, history and lore—its words echoing loudly from Neyland Stadium, spilling onto downtown Knoxville, onward to the hills of East Tennessee. 

“[‘Rocky Top’] means so much to the University of Tennessee and people across the state. When you watch a Tennessee football game all across the country, you know you will be hearing ‘Rocky Top’ playing in the background. It’s synonymous with our athletics department and our unbelievable fan base that stretches all across the country,” said UT Football Head Coach Butch Jones. “I knew about the song way before I arrived in Knoxville, just from my time in college football, but now it’s a major part of my life. There’s no greater feeling than standing on the sidelines at the iconic Neyland Stadium and hearing the ‘Pride of the Southland Band’ perform.”

When asked about the “Rocky Top” phenomenon heading into the 21st century, Bobby Osborne is as mystified by the song’s popularity as he is sincerely honored to be part of its ever-growing history.

“When ‘Rocky Top’ got to be real popular among different types of people and music, we just got to where if we didn’t do ‘Rocky Top’ about 20 minutes down into our show, people would start hollering for it. At one time, we got to where we’d open and close a show with it,” he laughed. “Of all the songs I’ve sung in the close to 60 years I’ve been in this business, I’ve never had a song hit me like that one did. I really don’t know how to explain it—the people just took a liking to it.”

An interview with Del Bryant 

“Rocky Top” really does bring my folks to my mind, very clearly, strongly and beautifully. I just kind of think, “Do you know what you unleashed onto the world?” It is amazing. In that small portion of the world that “Rocky Top” has always been meaningful, and is growing with the population that’s growing in Tennessee, it’s also spreading geographically out.

Before my father passed in [19]87, in the early [19]80s, he had the occasion to hang out with Paul McCartney, [his] band Wings and Linda [McCartney]. They were so thrilled to have my folks there because they were Everly Brothers fans. But, somebody in his band said, “Do you know that Boudleaux wrote ‘Rocky Top’?” And Paul was just amazed. I guess the point I’m trying to raise, is that song has a fan base around the world. You go to New Orleans, and you’d think it was a New Orleans song. It is a Southern favorite. I was skiing in Colorado, coming down the hill, there was a four-piece band skiing and singing “Rocky Top.” If you’re on the West Coast and you want people to know that you’re a bluegrass person or a Southern person or a Tennessee person, then you like “Rocky Top” and you let people know it. That song has really taken on a bigger and bigger part with each passing day. 

It was a complex chemistry [between Felice and Boudleaux]. It was one of those four-letter words called “love.” They just madly loved each other. They loved my brother [Dane] and I. And they wanted to make a good enough living to support their love and the family love that was growing. They were good at writing, and they realized it, so they went after it with passion and gusto, with a tremendous respect for one another. 

As time washes everything away, one of dad’s dearest friends, [Kellen Clark], who was a musician with him in [Hank Penny & The Radio Cowboys], said, “Boudleaux, when everybody has forgotten ‘Bye Bye, Love’ and ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream,’” and forgotten your name and Felice’s name, they’ll still be singing ‘Rocky Top.’” And, you know, I think Kellen was correct. I think “Rocky Top,” as the years pass, may be the only legacy. 

I do believe, without a doubt, that [Felice and Boudleaux] helped shape country music. They were the first professional songwriting team. [Their] legacy is alive and living in Nashville. They proved that a songwriter can make a living and be a contributing part of a day-to-day life of a thriving music metropolis. It had never been proven in the south before, [that] you could make a living if you were good at just writing songs—that’s part of the legacy of every songwriter that’s in Nashville. 

The rest of it, is that a real mixture of music can truly, continuously reform music and become new genres. [Felice and Boudleaux] helped develop early rock-n-roll with a flavor of country that my father grew up with as a young boy, but also the usage of much of the classical music he learned as a student, [which] indicated beautiful melodies and chord structures could be used in pop and rock-n-roll.

Editor’s Note: Del is the son of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. For 42 years, he worked and thrived at BMI, a worldwide leader in music rights management, representing 12 million musical works created and owned by more than 750,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. Del retired as BMI President and CEO in 2014. Interview conducted and transcribed by Garret K. Woodward.