30 greatest sountern songs

A note from Y’all Magazine associate publisher Keith Sisson:

Basicallyallformsof AmericanmusicoriginatedintheAmericanSouth.FromTheCarterFamilyandJimmieRodgerstoElvis Presley and Robert Johnson, the South’s cultural influence on American music cannot be argued nor measured. Why is it that somanySouthernersgoontomakesomeof thedeepestmarksinmusicalhistory?Perhapsitcouldbethepeopleandtheplacethatinspiresthem.ThereisnodoubtthattheSouthhasthehighestconcentrationof regionalprideinthecountryandthatpridecanbeillustratedbyourmusic.Thatgotallof usatY’allMagazinethinkingaboutwhatthegreatestSouthernsongsof alltimewouldbe.ThecriteriawouldhavetobethatthesongsprovokeauniquelySouthernexperience,eitherbyplaceoremotion.Thesongscouldbeof anyformatandwouldneedtohavestoodthetestof time.Thefollowingisalistof songswerankasthe“GreatestSouthernSongs.” We hope you enjoy our list. If you feel we have made and error in the rankings or left something out, we would like to hear fromyou.Pleaseemailuswithyourfeedbackatsouthernsongs@yall.comorleaveusacommentatwww.yall.com.

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36 Y’ALL • THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN PEOPLE

When Virginia-born singer songwriter Steve Earle moved toTexasduringhisadolescence,therewasnodoubthewantedtobeamusician.Hedroppedoutof schoolinninthgradeandmovedtoHoustontolearnaboutthemusicbusiness.Thenaftermoving to Nashville, his acclaim, talent and hard-line political viewsmadehimstandoutfrommainstreamcountryartists.

ThealbumCopperhead Roadwasreleasedin1988,andreceivedgold status. Its title song tells the story of a family of moonshine bootleggersinEastTennessee.Thestoryculminateswiththeson returning from the Vietnam War to Johnson County where hetransformsthefamilybusinessfrommoonshinetogrowing“seedfromColumbiaandMexico.”Thesongmadereferencetoanotherbootleggingsong,“TheBalladOf ThunderRoad,”asthesheriff impliedtotheboy’smotherthathisfatherhaddiedinacarwreckwhilerunningwhiskeyintoKnoxville.

Moonshinereferences,theglamorizedtraditionof bootleg-ging and suped-up cars along with the conflicted expectation of Vietnam-era patriotism all combine to make “Copperhead Road”asongthatwilllivewithinAmericanandSouthernpopculture for years to come. In addition to the song’s accomplished themeanddetachedovertone,itisalsocreditedwithhelpingtomakelinedancingpopularasthesonginspiredapopulardancethatistimedwithitsbeat......................................................................................................

In 1977, Georgia native Jerry Reed had already spent years onthecountrymusicscene.Throughoutthattime,hegarneredtwo No. 1 hits; the first chart-topper was the self-penned “When You’reHot,You’reHot.”Thesecondwasthesong“Lord,Mr.Ford,” written by Dick Feller. Reed and Feller teamed-up as songwriters to compose a song that would help shape a pop-cul-ture movement and give score to one of the top grossing films of thatyear,Smokey And The Bandit.

Like so many songs that are written specifically for movies, “East Bound and Down” is a summary of the film’s plot. Reed tellsthestoryof twoprofessionaltruckdriverswhohavebeenpaidtomakeabootleggingrunfromAtlanta,Ga.,toTexar-kana,Texas,andbackwithin28hours.Thebounty:Coorsbeer.FederalliquorandstatetaxlawsmadeitimpossibletolegallybuyCoorseastof Texas,forcingaminorbootleggingfadinthe1970s. Laws were repealed or relaxed in the ‘80s making way for Coorstolegallybedistributedintherestof theSouth.

Thesong“EastBoundAndDown,”aswellasthemovie,further introduced a generation of kids to trucker-talk and CB handlesthatwouldcontinuetobepopularintheruralSouthun-til the availability of affordable cellular phones in the late ‘90s.

“EastBoundAndDown”spenttwoweeksatNo.2onthecharts in 1977, and Smokey And The Banditwasthesecondgross-ing movie of the year, losing the top spot only to Star Wars.

When the late Nashville songwriter Bobby Russell wrote “The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia” in 1972, his then wife, Vicki Lawrence, recorded the demo in hopes that Liza Minnelli would release the song as a single. The song was first pitchedtoCher,butherhusbandandmanager,SonnyBono,passedonthesong,thinkingitwouldoffendherSouthernfans.Lawrence went on to release the Southern Gothic up-tempo bal-ladherself andearnedtheNo.1spotontheBillboardcharts.

The plot-rich, story-telling lyrics of the song feature a young man returning home from a two-week trip to find out that his wifehashadnumerousaffairsinhisabsence,onewithhisbestfriend Andy Wooloh. Going home to confront his wife, he finds anemptyhouseandassumesshelefttown.Seekingrevengeon his friend Andy, he finds the “only thing Papa left him and that was a gun.” He arrives at Andy’s house to find that Andy was already dead. Firing a shot in the air to flag down a passing sheriff, he gets charged with the murder. A judge showed up that night, finds the main character in the song guilty and sentences him to die before the night’s end. It was important for the trial to end soon as the judge didn’t want his affair with the wife to come to light either, as “the judge in the town has blood stains on his hands.”Thesongconcludeswiththeconfessionof thenarrator(thesister)admittingtothemurdersandclaimingherbrotherwaslynchedbeforeshecouldtakecreditforthecrimes.

TanyaTuckerrecordedaslightlydifferentversionof thesong for a 1981 movie bearing the same title. Southern justice wastakentoextremesagainin1991whenRebaMcEntirerecordedacoverof thesongonheralbumFor My Broken Heart.ThesongpeakedatNo.12,butthevideoreceivedhighmarksfromtheindustry.Today,boththesongandvideocontinuetoreceiveconsiderableairplay......................................................................................................

Few People had a more influential role in 1960s television thanMissourinativePaulHenning.AsawriterforserieslikeThe Andy Griffith Show,Henningwentontomakehismarkonshowbusinessasacreatorformanyof theruralsitcomsof theera.HehadahandindevelopingGreen Acres,andhecreatedPetticoat JunctionandThe Beverly Hillbillies.BasedonexperienceswhilecampingintheOzarks,HenningdevelopedtheconceptforThe Beverly Hillbillies,andwrotethemusicandlyricstoitsopeningtheme song, “The Ballad Of Jed Clampett.” While the purpose of the song was to provide a back-story for the sitcom, it became as popular as the show itself. It reached 44 on the Billboard Charts in 1962, and has been sampled or covered from artists likeNealMcCoyandKidRock.

Jerry Scoggins, a part-time singer and stockbroker, sang the originalversionof thesong,whichfeaturesthebluegrassstylingsof legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. In 1993, a then retired Scoggins heard that 20th Century Fox was making a movie basedonthetelevisionseries.Scogginscontactedthestudioonlyto learn that the film’s producers had no idea he was still alive. Even though Fox had suggested that Willie Nelson or Johnny

MARCH/APRIL 2009 • Y’ALL 37

Cash sing the theme song, the film’s director, Penelope Spheeris, insistedthatScogginshavethehonors.Priortohisdeathin2004, Scoggins claimed to have sang the song over 1,000 times......................................................................................................

Prior to becoming a household name, in 1970

JohnDenverwasplayingatTheCellarDoor,afolkmusic club in Washington, D.C., with two other musicians, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. Following their first performance of a two-week gig, the three left the club and began an impromp-tu jam session at one of their houses. It was there where Danoff and Nivert first played a raw version of “Take Me Home, Coun-tryRoads,”forDenver.ThetwohadbeganwritingtheballadwhileonatriptovisitNivert’sfamilyinruralMaryland,thusthe first drafts of the song were about Maryland; only later to be changed to West Virginia.

Denver knew the song was a hit the first time he heard it, and thethreeworkedonthemusicandalteredthelyricsthroughoutthenight.TheydebutedthesongatTheCellarDoorasanen-core on December 30, 1970. The song was so new, that they had toreadthelyricsfromfoldedpiecesof paper.Asthelegendgoes,the song received more than five minutes of standing ovation, a recordnotbrokentothisdayattheclub.

The song was released in the spring of ‘71, on Denver’s Po-ems, Prayers And Promisesalbum.RCAalmostgaveuponthesingleafterlittleairplayandlittlefeedback.Denverurgedthemtobepatientwiththerelease.Theydid,anditpaidoff.Bylatesum-mer of that year the single was certified as a million-seller.

Since 1972, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” has been played prior to every home football game at West Virginia Uni-versity. It’s played again at the end of victorious home games,

wherefansandstudentsareencouragedtosingalongwiththeplayers. Resolutions have been brought before the West Virginia House of Delegates to officially make the popular ballad the statesong,butforavarietyof reasons,thishasnothappened.Thesongcontinuestobethesignaturesongforthelatesinger......................................................................................................

BorninAbilene,Texas,songwriterDennisLindepennedcountless hits over his 40 years in the business. After writing “Burning Love” for Elvis Presely, Linde enjoyed moderate suc-cess through the ‘70s and ‘80s. It wasn’t until 1993 when three of hissongs(“BubbaShotTheJukebox,”“JohnDeereGreen”and“JanieBaker’sLoveSlave”)allbecamehits,thathetrulygained industry-wide recognition—being named the Nashville SongwriterAssociation’s“Songwriterof theYear.”

With the many hits and songwriting success that Linde en-joyed, it’s hard to believe that one of his biggest songs was almost

forgotten.“Callin’BatonRouge”isafunupbeattaleof atravelingmanwho“spentlastnightinthearmsof

agirlinLouisiana.”Anduponleavingtownhasgrownmoreandmorefondof her,tothepoint

of obsession.“Callin’ Baton Rouge” was first record-

ed in 1978 by the Oak Ridge Boys. New GrassRevivalreleasedtheirownversionof the song in 1987, and it peaked at No. 37 on the country charts. It wasn’t until 1993 whencountrymusic’sbiggeststar,Garth

Brooks,releasedthesongonhisIn Piecesal-bum that it became a mega-hit, as the album

releasedebutedatNo.1ontheBillboardchart.Today,inadditiontocontinuedairplayonradio,the

song“Callin’BatonRouge”canbeheardinitsentiretyprior to home LSU football games, where up to 100,000 Tiger fanssingalongduringthepregamewarmups.ThesongisalsoasignaturetrackonBrooks’Double Livealbum......................................................................................................

In the late 1950s music executives discovered an Arkansas school principal who enjoyed writing songs about historical eventsasawaytohelphisstudentslearnhistory.JimmieDrift-woodwouldthenhaveachanceforhiscatchylittlesongstobe heard by millions. Signed by RCA in 1958, Driftwood had originallyapproachedadifferentrecordlabelineffortstogetarecordingdeal.HitrecordproducerBuddyKillen,whoislargelycreditedwithlaunchingthecareersof DollyPartonandRogerMiller, heard the first two lines of Driftwood’s “Battle Of New Orleans,”andtoldDriftwood,“Sonif that’sthekindastuff you’ve got, you’d better go home. We couldn’t sell one record of that.”

Following the release of a 12-cut album in 1958, Driftwood enjoyed moderate success, but it wasn’t until a well-known coun-tryartistnamedJohnnyHortonrecordedthe“BattleOf NewOrleans”thatDriftwood’ssongbecameatruehit.Horton’ssong


was No. 1 on the charts for ten consecutive weeks in 1959. Afterthesong’ssuccess,Driftwoodranintothefirstre-

cordproducerthatturnedhimdown.Asthestorygoes,Killenpromptlyturnedaround,bentoverandinstructedDriftwoodto“kickme!”

Horton’s version won a Grammy for Best Country & West-ernRecordingandwouldprovetobethebiggesthitof hisshortcareer. At age 35, Horton was killed by a drunk driver after play-ingattheSkylineClubinAustin,Texas,thesameplacewhereHank Williams last performed prior to his death. In an odd twist, Horton’swidow,BillieJeanJones,wasalsomarriedtothelateWilliams prior to his 1953 death.

“TheBattleof NewOrleans”wasinductedintotheGram-my Hall of Fame in 2001, and is listed as one of Billboard’s “Top Songsof theCentury.”

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a parody version of theclassicsongwaswrittenbyradiopersonalityChuckRed-denandwasrecordedandreleasedbycountrycomedianRayStevens......................................................................................................

In the early ‘80s, there was no TIVO, and only few people

hadavideorecorder,thustherewasneveraneedtoaskyourfellowSouthernerwhattheywouldbedoingonaFridaynight.ThetelevisionnetworkCBSownedFridaynightswithshowslikeDallasandTheDukesOf Hazzard.AlthoughthethemesongtoDallasisaswellknownastheshowitself,thethemesongforTheDukesOf Hazzardwouldnotonlybecomeoneof themostrecognizablethemesongsever,itwouldbecomeoneof thesignature songs of country music legend Waylon Jennings.

Jenningswasaskedtowritethethemesongfortheseriesthatinvolvedtheanticsof twocousinstryingtostayoutof troubleinsmalltownGeorgiawhileavoidingtheineptandcorruptcountyofficials.

Theradioversionof thesongwasaNo.1hitforJenningsin 1980. For the TV series, Jennings performed a slightly differ-ent version than the radio release. The TV version includes the verse, “they keep showing my hands, but not my face on TV,” whichisareferencetotheopeningcreditsof theshowwhereallyouseeisatightshotisthesinger’shandsplayingtheguitar.

As the popularity of the TV series grew into television mov-ies and major motion pictures, the theme song was covered by many different artists, most recently Willie Nelson, in the 2005 Warner Bros. release staring Jessica Simpson and Johnny Knox-ville.Jennings’son,Shooter,isknownforsingingthesongasatributetohisfather,aswell......................................................................................................

PickingthegreatestTexassongcouldbeworthyof anentiremagazine.Howcouldonebegintorank“EyesOf Texas,”“ElPaso,”“AmarilloByMorning,”andtosomeextent,thethemesong to Dallas against each other? Simply put, its more difficult than trying to figure out who shot “J.R.” That’s why we at Y’all

arenotevengoingtoattempttodoso.FromTexRitter,toMartyRobbins,toGeorgeStrait,thestateof Texashasbeenimmor-talized in song since the first time settlers crossed the Sabine River. We at Y’allloveSoutherncollegefootball,sosongsthatarerelatedtofootballgamefestivitieshaveacertaindegreeof preference; and since the University of Texas plays “Eyes Of Texas”priortoallsportingevents,weslightlygivetheHorns’pickanedge.Thesongwasalsosungatthefuneralof formerfirst lady Lady Bird Johnson......................................................................................................

Co-written by Merle Haggard and Roy Edward Burris (Haggard’sdrummer),“OkieFromMuskogee”wasoriginallywritten as a satire of small-town, middle-American values at the height of the Vietnam War. Haggard’s father was from Oklahoma,andthesongwasintendedtoillustrateasmuchof a generational divide in the country as a cultural divide. While larger cities were sites of anti-war protests, small-town America remainedlargelyuntouchedbythesocialmovementsof theera.Thesong’slyricsspokeof patrioticresidentswhoneverburnttheirdraftcards,neverusedillegalnarcotics,orworebeadsandsandals like people in West Coast cities.

The satiric song did not go over well with middle-Americans fromthosesmalltowns,perhapsthat’sbecausetheydidn’tgetthe satire. Instead, they took a literal interpretation of the lyrics andmadethesonganinstanthit.

Theresultof thesong’ssuccesswasanoverwhelmingscreamfrom the silent majority of the 1960s, whom for so long felt so out-numbered by the constant beating of the pop culture drum. Finally,somebodywasgivingthemavoice,albeitasatiricalone.The song climbed to No. 1 in 1969 and stayed there for four weeks. It was the third in a string of four consecutive No. 1 hits by Haggard, which included “Workin’ Man Blues,” and “The Fightin’SideOf Me,”aperiodof Haggard’scareerthatforevercementedhistitleasthe“ThePoetOf TheCommonMan”

“OkieFromMuskogee”wontheCMAsingleof theyearthatyear,andfollowingthesong’ssuccessHaggardrecordedaliveversioninMuskogee,Okla.,thatalsobecamefamous.

Politically, the song’s success grew from the anti-antiwar movement,frompeoplewhoweretiredof theprotestsandthedecayof traditionalAmericanvalues.Historically,“OkieFromMuskogee” may have accidentally been the first pop-culture referencetowhatwouldbecometheculturaldivideof modernpoliticalideologicaldifferencesbetweenAmericansontheEastand West coast, versus those in the South and Midwest......................................................................................................

Likemanysongswritteninthe19thcentury,“MyOldKen-tucky Home,” shares conflicting stories of its origin, along with afewlyricchangesthathavebeenpasseddownthroughhistory.The song was written by (presumably) America’s first profession-al songwriter, Stephen Foster. Foster (1826-1864) is credited with writingsuchstandardsas“OhSusanna,”“SuwanneRiver,”and“Camptown Races.” While all of these songs have been sung forgenerationsandhavehadcountlessreferenceswithinpop


cultureentertainment,“MyOldKentuckyHome”remainshislastinglegacy.

As the official state song of Kentucky, “My Old Kentucky Home” was originally called, “Poor Uncle Tom, Good Night.” The song describes life on a slave plantation, and in the 1850s waswidelyseenasbeingsympathetictoslaves.Aslegendhasit,thesongwasinspiredwhileFosterwastravelingfromhisnativePennsylvaniatoNewOrleans.Alongthewayhestoppedtovisithiscousins,theRowanfamily,attheirBardstown,Ky.,home,FederalHill.However,documentationof Foster’stripdoesnotsupportclaimsthatheactuallyvisitedBardstownandreferencesinthesongpointtoasmalllogcabininsteadof astatelyman-sion. Also, Foster’s trip took place in 1852, after the first draft of thesonghadbeenpenned.

SometheoriespointtolettersfromFoster’ssister,whoactu-allylivedatFederalHillforawhile,astheinspirationforthesong.Anothercluetothesong’sinspirationcanbefoundinthe song’s original title, “Poor Uncle Tom, Good Night.” This was around the time that another “Uncle Tom” was becoming famous, thanks to an 1851 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Set on a Kentucky plantation, the best-selling novel of the19thcenturybroughttolifetherealitiesof slavery.

Regardlessof thesong’sinspiration,Foster’slegacyasthefatherof AmericansongwritinglivesonthroughanalmostdailytributewithintheBluegrassState.Therevisedlyricsof thesong,changed in 1986 to become more politically correct, can today be sung and heard at both University of Louisville and Univer-sityof Kentuckyfootballandbasketballgames,aswellasattheKentucky Derby, where every year since 1930 the song is played whilehorsesareledtothepostatChurchillDowns......................................................................................................

Both Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn were major forces in country music before they recorded their first song together in 1971. “After The Fire Is Gone” is a somber song about the heartachesof alovelessmarriage.TwittyandLynnwouldgoon to record 14 hits together, cementing them as one of the all timebestcountrymusicduetacts.Butitwastheirthirdreleasetogetherthatwillforeverbethesignaturesongof theirvocalcollaboration.

Becki Bluefield and Jim Owen wrote “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” and in 1973, Twitty and Lynn made it a No. 1 hit. The fun, light-hearted song is an upbeat tale of a guy inMississippithatfallsforaLouisianagirl.ThesongcentersaroundtheMississippiRiverobstructingtheabilityforthemtoget together. (In real life Twitty grew up on the banks of the river inFriarsPoint,Miss.)

Thehitwouldbeoneof fourNo.1hitsthetwowouldsharetogether.Theyearof thesong’srelease,TwittyandLynnwontheCMAvocalduoaward.

At age 18, Georgia-born classically trained violinist Diado-rius Boudleaux Bryant decided he would rather play a fiddle in a westernbandthanplaywiththeAtlantaPhilharmonicOrches-tra.Sevenyearslater,whileperformingataMilwaukeehotelhemet Matilda Genevieve Scaduto (nicknamed ‘Felice’ by Bryant). The two married and became one of the greatest husband-wife songwritingteamsinhistory.

In the early years of their marriage the couple struggled. It wasn’t until 1948 when Little Jimmy Dickens recorded “Coun-try Boy” that the couple received their first break as songwriters. What followed would be a string of legendary hits, including “Bye Bye, Love,” Wake Up, Little Susie,” “Love Hurts,” and “All I Have To Do Is Dream.” However, their most notable con-tribution to Southern culture came in 1967 while working on a collection of slow-tempo songs for Archie Campbell and Chet Atkins. Working in Gatlinburg, Tenn., the duo needed a break from writing those slow-tempo songs; ten minutes later they had penned“RockyTop”

Originally recorded by the Osborne Brothers in 1967, it wasn’tuntilLynnAndersonrecordedthesongthreeyearslaterthatitbecameahit.ThesongisaboutaplacenamedRockyTop,whichislocatedalongtheAppalachianTrailinpartof theGreatSmokeyMountainsNationalPark.Thelyricsspeakof afailedloveaffairwithamountaingirlandEastTennessee’sheritageof moonshining.Thoughthehitonlyreachedashighas No. 17 on the Billboard charts, its national attention created a regional pride for the area. The song is one of seven official statesongsforthestateof Tennessee,andtodayitsperhapsbestknown as the unofficial fight song at the University of Tennessee. “ThePrideof theSouthland”marchingbandhasbeengranteda perpetual license to perform the song on the field as often as the team’s success dictates. UT legend Peyton Manning is well-rememberedforleadingthebandin“RockyTop”followinga come-from-behind game-winning drive against Auburn in the 1997 SEC Championship game during his senior season. Tennessee fans have come to embrace the song as University of Alabamafanshavebegrudginglyhadtodealwiththefactthatthe fight song all Bama fans hate the most was actually written bytwopeoplewiththelastnameof “Bryant!”.....................................................................................................

Y’all columnist and best-selling author Ronda Rich once wroteof theAlanJacksonhit“Chattahoochee,”that“itestab-lishedJacksonasasongwritinggeniusonthegroundsthathewas able to find something that rhymed with the word ‘Chat-tahoochee.’”

By the song’s debut in ‘93, Jackson had already established himself asalastingpowerincountrymusic.Priortothereleaseof “Chattahoochee,”thethirdreleasefromJackson’sthirdal-bum,hehadexperiencednearunprecedentedsuccess.Elevenof the first twelve releases from Jackson charted in the Top 5, including“Chattahoochee”andsixotherNo.1singles.Butper-haps it was not the success of those first three albums that would establish Jackson as a country music legend-in-waiting; instead


itmayhavebeentherelationshipsestablishedwithNashvilleinsidersJimMcBrideandKeithStegallthatliftedJacksontosuperstardom.

Bythetime“Chattahoochee”wasreleased,Jacksonhadalready co-written songs with both McBride and Stegall, with StegallproducingallbutonesongonJackson’sthirdalbum,A Lot About Livin’ (And A Little About Love),whichtookitsnamefromaverseinthe“Chattahoochee”song.JacksonandMcBride,who enjoyed prior songwriting success together with “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” co-penned “Chattahoochee.” The song is a mild-hearted tribute to Jackson’s formative years growing up near the famous river in his hometown of Newnan, Ga. It not only serves as a nostalgic reminder of the guilty-pleasures of misspentyouth,butmoreimportantlyitgivesvali-dationtotheinnocenceandfreedomfromrespon-sibilitythatistoooftenstrippedfrommodernadolescence.

ThesinglespentfourweeksatNo.1andwas the CMA single of the year in 1993. Coun-trymusicvideofanswillrememberthevideo,whichfeaturedJacksonwaterskiinginhissig-nature torn blue jeans and white cowboy hat. Thevideoandthesongstillreceiveconsiderableairtimetoday.Despitethelatersuccessesof the9/11 tribute single, “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning),” and the Jimmy Buffett duet, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” the song “Chattahoochee” remainsAlanJackson’ssignaturesong......................................................................................................

In 1964, the Ole Miss Rebels’ all-SEC Quarterback Jim Weatherly completed his senior season in Oxford with a 5-5-1 record. While never leaving football behind completely, the Pontotoc,Miss.,nativechosetofocushistimeonsongwriting.Almost a decade would pass until Weatherly began to make his markonmusichistory.

One night while living in Los Angeles, Weatherly called a friend and flag football teammate only to have his friend’s new girlfriend answer the phone. The friend was Lee Majors, and the newgirlfriendwasarelativelynewstarlet,FarrahFawcett.Faw-cett told Weatherly that she was packing for a “midnight plane Houston.” Following the telephone call, Weatherly couldn’t get that phrase out of his head. Roughly 45 minutes later Weatherly hadpennedasongaboutagirlwhogoestoL.A.tobecomeastar,fails,movesbackhomeandtakeshernewboyfriendwithher. Weatherly recorded “Midnight Plane To Houston,” as a slowcountrysongthatreceivedrelativelylittlesuccess.Lessthana year later, an Atlanta-based record producer wanted to pitch the song as an R&B cut to Cissy Houston (Whitney Houston’s mother.)Theproducer,SonnyLimbo,wantedtomakethesongmoresoulfulandrequestedthatthetitleof thesongchangeto“MidnightTrainToGeorgia.”ThesongwasrecordedandbarelyevenchartedforHouston,butGladysKnightheardthenewversionof thesong.ByaddingsomebackgroundvocalsbyThePipsandalittleextragroove,Knightwentontorecordthe

signaturesongof hercareer.GladysKnightandThePipshadaNo.1

hit with the single in 1973, and won a Grammy for the release in 1974. That same year, Weath-

erlywasnamedNashvilleSongwriterof theYearbythe Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). In 1999, “Midnight Train To Georgia” was inducted into the GrammyHallof Fame......................................................................................................

2005 was a big year for country music star John Rich. His Nashville-based movement, MuzikMafia, owned that year. It was hard to find any one week in 2005 that John Rich or a member of the Mafia wasn’t on the charts as either a performer orasongwriter.EventhoughRich’sownalbum,Horse Of A Dif-ferent Color, with duet partner Big Kenny, enjoyed great success, Rich will also be remembered for a song he specifically wrote for Star,Miss.,nativeFaithHill.

Hill was already a household name in ‘05. She enjoyed suc-cessonthecountryandpopchartsaswellasHollywoodfamefollowingthereleaseof themotionpictureThe Stepford Wivesin2004. Rich recognized that with all of her newfound success that shemightbelookingforawaytoreestablishherself asacountryartistasopposedtoapopmusicandmoviestar.He,alongwithsongwriter Adam Shoenfield, then penned an instant classic, “MississippiGirl.”

Thesongnotonlyservesasashortbiographyof Hill’slife,butalsoitpresentsadefensetoallwhohaveaccusedherof los-ing her roots. It was Hill’s first No. 1 country single in six years, taking the top spot on September 3, 2005, just five days after HurricaneKatrinadestroyedanddevastatedtheGulf Coastof Hill’s home state. In the wake of the worst natural disaster in Americanhistory,thesongbecameananthemforstatepride,perseverance,andsuccess.Justweekslater,onOctober1,Hillperformedaliveversionof herhitsongduringanationally


televisedKatrinaRelief fundraiserthatwasbroadcastfromtheUniversity of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss.

Representingashiftinthewayinwhichwepurchasemusic,“MississippiGirl”willforeverholdthedesignationasbeingthe500-millionth song download within Apple iTunes file-sharing application......................................................................................................

The 1944 Louisiana governor’s race featured one of the era’s mostnotablecountrymusicsingers.JimmieDaviswasknownfor singing his hit song from 1940, “You Are My Sunshine,” atcampaignralliesandpoliticalstumpspeechesthroughoutthe state—often times from the back of his horse, aptly named “Sunshine.”Claiminghehadwrittenthesongwhileingradschool at LSU, research later determined that Davis actually boughtthesongfromanothersongwriterandplacedhisnameonit,apracticecommonduringthattime.

Theoriginalsongwriterisstillamystery.Somepeoplebe-lievethatDavisboughtthesongfrombrothersPaulandHokeRice,whohadrecordedthesongayearbeforeDavisdid.AmonthpriortotheRice’srecording,thesongwasrecordedbythePineRidgeBoys,makingDavisthethirdpersontoputthesingleonvinyl.Somesaythesongwasadaptedfromapoem,othersclaimtheoriginalsongwaswrittenbyaguynamedOli-ver Hood. Regardless of the confusion, Davis and his long-time sidekick,CharlesMitchell,arecreditedassongwritersandholdthe 1940 copyright. Davis claimed to be the original songwriter alltheway up to his death in 2000.

“YouAreMySun-shine”hasbeen

r e c o r d e dhundreds

of times

since the ‘40s, with the most popular version being that of Ray Charles, which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard charts in 1962. B.B.Kingtothisdayincorporatesthesongintohisliveper-formances. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and is listed as one of the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) Songs of the Century. “You Are My Sun-shine” was made the official state song of Louisiana in 1977. In additiontocountlessmoviesandtelevisionshows,thesongcanalsoregularlybeheardatSouthernpoliticalevents......................................................................................................

In 1967, Johnny Cash and June Carter won a Grammy for

theirduethit,“Jackson.”Thesongisaboutamarriedcouplewhose “fire went out.” Both the husband and the wife talk about goingtoJacksonandtakingpartinthelivelynightlife–eachpledging to have more fun than the other. It is unclear if the songistalkingaboutJackson,Miss.,orJackson,Tenn.Generallyspeaking,peoplefromMississippiassumethesongisabouttheJackson on I-40 in Tennessee; while people from Tennessee as-sumethesongismakingreferencetothecapitalof theMagnoliaState.Regardless,thesonghasdeepassociationstoSoutherncultureandcountrymusichistory.

As depicted in the 2005 motion picture Walk The Line,“Jack-son”wastheduetthatCarterandCashweresingingonstageinCanadawhenJohnnyaskedJunetomarryhim.Afterrefusaltoanswerthequestions,afterbeggingJohnnytokeepsingingandafterthebandrefusedtocontinueplayingwithoutJohnny’sblessing,Junegaveinandsaid“yes.”ThetwomarriedaweeklaterinKentucky.

The original songwriters of “Jackson” are Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber (Leiber’s wife, German-born actress Gaby Rodgers, is often falsely credited with being a co-writer; however shewasnot,asLeiberwouldsometimesusehernameashispseudonym while writing music.) Wheeler played the song for Leiber and Leiber basically said the first half of the song was awful and that it should begin with its last verse. Wheeler was waryaboutstartingthebeginningof asongattheclimaxof itsstory, but as everyone now knows, it worked. “We got married in afever,hotterthanapeppersprout,”isthesong’sopeningline.Wheeler recorded the song with Joan Sommer, a friend from Kentucky,singingthefemalelines.Therecordingeventually

found its way to “The Man In Black.” The hit wasoneof countlesshitsforbothLeiber

and Wheeler, both of whom are in songwriterhallsof fame.


Walden, Texas, native Bob McDill penned over thirty No. 1 country songs prior to his retirement in 2000. As a young student at Lamar University in the early 1960s, McDill played inalocalbandandperformedinlocalclubsaroundBeaumont,Texas.Oneof hisregular“fans”wasanunknownJanisJoplin.AccordingtoMcDill,Joplinwoulddoherhomeworkwhilethebandperformed.AfterleavingBeaumont,McDillservedintheNavybeforemovingtoMemphis,Tenn.,topursuehissongwrit-ingambitions.

ThepublishingcompanythatMcDillwroteforinMemphiswaspurchasedbyanotherBeaumont,Texannamed“Cowboy”JackClement.ClementmovedthecompanytoNashville.ThepopularthoughtatthetimewasthatNashvillewasgoingtobecomethehubof popandrockmusic.McDillmovedwiththecompanyto“MusicCity”inhopesof takingadvantageof thechangingtrends.

After living on $25 a week for over a year, McDill realized thatRockandRollwasnotcomingtoNashville,thusforcinghimtowritesongsforcountryartists.HeheardGeorgeJonessing,“AGoodYearForTheRoses,”andclaimsitwasasif alightwentoff.McDillstartedstudyingcountrymusicandbeganwriting,sometimespenninguptoonesongperweek.

His first country hit was “Catfish John” for Johnny Russell. Following that hit he met Don Williams and penned “Good Ole Boys Like Me,” after reading Robert Penn Warren’s A Place To Come To.ThesongwasabighitforMcDill.Thelyricsfeaturedarichnessnotfoundinothercountrysongsatthetime.Lineslike“a picture of Stonewall Jackson above my head,” and “I can still hearthesoftSouthernwindsintheliveoaktrees,”andmakingreference to both Hank Williams Sr. and Tennessee Williams inthesameline,bringsthesongclosetoeverySoutherners’heart.

McDillalsopennedMelMcDaniel’stwobiggesthits,“Ba-by’s Got Her Blue Jeans On,” and the Cajun classic, “Louisiana SaturdayNight.”“LouisianaSaturdayNight”isasongaboutcountryfamiliesandfriendsgettingtogetherontheweekendsandhavingfun.Thesong,whilenotlikelyinspiredbyanyonefamilyorevent,waslikelylooselybasedonMcDill’sownyouthwhen his family would gather around the piano and play sing-alongs. “Louisiana Saturday Night” is often played at LSU games,andisastandardateveryLouisianapianobarandkaraokeoutlet.

McDill’sstringof tophitsincludeAlabama’s“SongOf TheSouth”AlanJackson’s“GoneCountry,”DanSeals’“EverythingThat Glitters,” and Keith Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” just to name a few.

McDillwasinductedintotheNashvilleSongwritersHallof Fame in 1985. The week of his induction, six Bob McDill-writ-tensongswereontheBillboardcharts.Heretiredfromsong-writing in 2000, citing the lack of radio airplay of country music legendsaswellasthefactthathefoundtoday’snewerartiststobelessinteresting.

Asongdoesn’thavetobeasmashhitinordertobecomepopular.Thatisevidentfromthesuccessof “CarolinaGirls.”When the band Chairmen of the Board first came to the Caro-linas, they noticed the girls there had a specific style. Band mem-ber Danny Woods noticed that New York girls and California girlshadtheirownsongs,andthatgirlsfromtheCarolinasfeltleftout.

With the release of “Carolina Girls” in the famed mid-Atlan-ticbeachmusicstyle,girlsfrombothNorthandSouthCarolinahadareasontobeprideful.GeneralJohnsonandtheChairmenof the Board released the song in 1980, and it would prove to foreverbeanempoweringandendearingsongtonotonlyCaro-lina girls in the ‘80s, but future generations of Carolina girls to come.Thesongspurnedbumperstickers,licenseplates,andclothing.Girlsfrombothstateswereproudof thesong’sclaimthat“CarolinaGirls(are)bestintheworld.”

The women’s athletic teams at the University of North Caro-lina use the song as an unofficial fight song. Other schools do similarly,someevenhavingmarchingbandadaptations......................................................................................................

Tothisdate,theCharlieDanielsBandhasonlyhadoneNo.1song; but that song was a huge hit. “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” was written by Charlie Daniels and five other band-mates.Thesongisalmostspoken,ratherthansung,andfeaturesa plot line of a fiddle player in Georgia that has an encounter withtheDevil.TheDeviliswaybehindinthestealingof soulsandmakesadealwiththesong’smaincharacter,Johnny.Thetwo face-off in a fiddling competition. If Johnny wins, he gets to keep the Devil’s golden fiddle. If the Devil wins, he gets Johnny’s soul.

Tothebestof Daniels’recollection,the“dealwiththeDevil”theme was inspired by a poem, “The Mountain Whippoorwill,” thatDanielshadreadinschool.ThesongwonthebandaGrammy in 1979, as well as the CMA single of the year. The Re-cording Industry of Association of America (RIAA) has stated thatthesingleisthetopsellingsongof alltimethatfeaturesa name of one of the 50 U.S. states in the title…an amazing accomplishmentwhenconsideringsomeof theotherhitsthatwouldqualifyforsuchdesignation(“SweetHomeAlabama”and“GeorgiaOnMyMind”).

Following the song’s radio success in 1979, it was promi-nently featured in the 1980 motion picture Urban Cowboy,wheretheCDBperformeditonstageduringasceneinthemovie.Thesong has enjoyed almost 30 years of success and was introduced toawholenewgenerationof fansinthemovieCoyote Ugly,whichrevived and sexed-up a few traditional dance moves that are heavilyassociatedwithAppalachianmusic.

Otherversionsof thesong,includingsequels,havebeenrecorded. But it’s the original recording of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” that continues to be a defining song of the Southernmusicexperience.


The impact of Hank Williams Sr. on modern country music can never be exaggerated. His first No.1 hit, released in 1949, wasthemostsuccessfulsingleof hiscareer.“TheLovesickBlues” spent 16 weeks at the top of the chart. Although Wil-liams’ career is dotted with multiple No. 1 hits, it was the Cajun stylings of his 1952 release, “Jambalaya (On The Bayou)” that wouldprovetobeoneof hismostcriticallyacclaimed(andcer-tainlymostunique)songs.

Spending 14 weeks as the top song on the charts, “Jambalaya (On The Bayou)” introduced all of America to Cajun culture andcuisineviathelyricsandarrangementof thesong.Themelody is based on the Cajun song “Grand Texas,” but the lyr-ics and theme of the song changed. Perhaps the Cajun-French phrases that appear in the song, along with Williams’ references to traditional Louisiana dishes like “jambalaya, crawfish pie and file´ gumbo,” were inspired from Williams’ early performances onthetelevisionprogramLouisiana Hayride,eventhoughtheprogramwasbasedinShreveport,La.,whichisfarnorthfromtraditional Cajun country.

Williams is credited as the song’s writer, but a writer named Moon Mullican is sometimes credited as a co-writer. Williams mayhavepurchasedtherightstothesongfromMullican.AresearcherfromwithintheMullicanfamilyclaimsthesongwaswrittenaboutthegoodtimesthatwerehadwhilevisitingabarownedbyYvonneLittleinSouthLouisiana.Acharacternamed“Yvonne”beingaffectionatelymentionedinthesongsupportsthis.

ThesongisintheGrammyHallof Fame,andislistedasoneof thetopsongsof thecentury.Tothisday,itisstillreveredwithgreat pride from the Cajun community..................................

When Hank Williams Jr. began performing at age eight, his mother billed him as a Hank Williams Sr. impersonator. She evenwentasfarashavingawardrobetailoredfortheyoungerWilliams that looked similar to that of his late father’s. Through the ‘60s and early ‘70s, “Bocephus” enjoyed some success, but he wanted to have a bigger impact on the music industry than just beingthesonof alegend.

The music of Hank Jr. changed just after 1973, when he moved to Alabama. While in his parents’ native state he began some groundbreaking collaborations with country stars Waylon JenningsandCharlieDaniels;buthealsoworkedwithSouth-ernrockersliketheMarshallTuckerBand.Ashewastryingto reinvent his music, disaster struck. While rock climbing in Montana in 1975, Hank Jr. fell over 400 feet down the side of the mountain.Hewouldspendthenexttwoyearsgoingthroughre-constructivesurgeries(hecoversupthescarswithhistrademarkthickfacialhairanddarksunglasses).

In 1979, with the release of the album Family Tradition,hismusicaltransitionwascomplete.Southernrock,mixedwithcountry, blues and whole lot of attitude, lifted Williams to the top. A string of hits would follow – songs like “Texas Women,” “DixieOnMyMind,”“ThisAin’tDallas,”“CountryStateOf Mind,” “Young Country,” and “If The South Would’ve Won” – all display Williams’ well-known style. His signature hit was a 1981No.1single,“AllMyRowdyFriendsAreComingOverTonight,”whichof coursehasbeenadaptedasthethemetoMonday Night Football. Additionally, University of Arkansas fans have come to adopt the song “Hog Wild” as an unofficial anthem,playingitpriortohomefootballgamesinFayetteville.

HankJr.sangsongsabouttheSouthandDixiebeforeitwascool.Allof hissongs,eventheonesthatarenotuniquelySouth-ern,deserveaplaceinSouthernhistoryandcultureforever......................................................................................................

When singer/songwriter Marc Cohn was growing up

inCleveland,Ohio,heprobablyneverguessedhewouldwriteasongthatwouldstrikeanemotionalchordwithanentirecity,andconverselywouldexportthatcity’smystiqueallaroundtheworld.Hecertainlywouldn’thaveplannedonwritingsuchasongaboutacityhehadneverevenbeento.

Cohn had a life-changing experience when he first ar-rived in the Mid-South and heard a sermon from The Rev-erend Al Green. Immersed in blues music, and the legends of W.C. Handy and Elvis Presley, Cohn was moved. But

inspirationdidn’tcomeuntilhetraveledafewmilessouthof Memphis to a Tunica County, Miss., juke joint named “The

Hollywood.”Therehewouldhaveachanceencounterwitha70-year-old black pianist and singer, Muriel Davis Wilkins. The restisimmortalizedinhissong.

“Walkin’ In Memphis” is a first-person narrative about Cohn’sexperienceswhilevisitingMemphisandtheemotional


appreciationhehasforitsvaryingcultures.GivingpraisetoAlGreen,CarlPerkins,ElvisPresley,DeltaBlues,BealeStreet,gospel music and even fried catfish, Cohn captures the magical spiritof thecity.Perhapsthebestlineinthesongisthesoulfulaffirmation of faith when Muriel, the pianist at The Hollywood, askedtheJewishCohnif he“wasaChristianchild,”towhichCohn promptly responded, “Ma’am, I am tonight.”

For those who have a passion for Memphis-area culture and historythesongwillforeverbecherishedasoneof thegreatestsongsof alltime.ForpeoplewhohavenevervisitedTheBluff City,thesongbecomesanaudiotourguide,directingpeopleonhowtoexperiencethecity.Oncepeoplefollowinthefootstepsof thesong,itbecomesrealeasytoforeverhaveanemotionalconnectiontoCohn’spoetry.

Cohn’s own version of the song peaked at No. 13 on the chartsandwonhimaGrammyin1991for“BestNewArtist.”It is the most requested number at Memphis’ top nightclub and piano bar, Silky O’Sullivan’s on Beale Street. Upon requests, pianistCraigShusterof Silky’swillbehappyto“welcomeyoutoMemphis”withaspiritedrenditionof thesongmultipletimesthroughoutyourvisit......................................................................................................

LorettaLynnhadalreadyspentadecadeinthemusicbusi-ness and garnered eighteen Top 10 songs by 1970; but it was in ‘70 that she recorded the song that would forever be associ-atedwithherlifestory,“CoalMiner’sDaughter.”

Lynnistheonlywriterof hersignaturesong,whichbe-camethenameof herautobiography,whichledtoamotionpicturereleaseaswell.ThesongissimplyaboutgrowingupamidsthumblebeginningsandalovingfamilyinEasternKentucky. As the song depicts, her father worked in the Van Learcoalmineandraisedeightkidsonminer’spay.Thelyricsillustrate the devotion to family and the virtue of unselfishness thatbothLynn’sparentsportrayed.Thesonggarnerssym-pathyforfamiliesthataresimilartoLynn’sfromthosewhomaremorefortunate,butmoreimportantlydisplaysthetriumphof the Kentuckian’s accomplishments and—a morale-booster thatprovesthatsuccesscanbeachievedbyanyonefromanybackground.

The song was a No.1 hit in 1970. In 1980, the motion pic-ture,Coal Miner’s Daughter, wasreleasedwithactressSissySpacekplayingLynn.Singingallof Lynn’ssongsforthesoundtrack,SpacekwonanAcademyAwardforherportrayalof Lynninthemovie.“CoalMiner’sDaughter”islistedasoneof thesongsof thecenturyandoneof thegreatestcountrysongseverrecorded......................................................................................................

FollowinghisgraduationwithahistorydegreefromtheUniversity of Southern Mississippi, Jimmy Buffett became a reporterforBillboardandmovedtoNashville.Hehadlittlesuccess as a singer/songwriter in his early career. From 1970-76 he released seven albums, none of which cracked the Top 20. Buffett began a shift in his style of music throughout that

time. While playing in New Orleans, country music star Jerry Reed offered to take Buffett to Key West. It was there where Buffettstartedmixingcountry,pop,islandbeats,andfolkmusictogethertocreatehisownstyle.

By the time 1977 rolled around, Buffett was transformed into theperformerweknowtoday.HereleasedthealbumChanges In Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,whichcontainedasinglethatwouldforeverbeknownashissignaturesong,“Margaritaville.”

Thiswasasongperhapsnotaboutafictitiousplace,butinsteadaboutastateof mind.Thesongisalsoatributetoitsnamesake,themargarita.

BuffettwouldgoontocreateaMargaritavillebrand.Sellingdrinkmixes,brewingbeer(LandShark),andopeningrestau-rantsacrossthecountry.Today,heisnotonlyamusicianbutanauthor, businessperson, and part-time beach bum; and it all got startedwhenhewas“searchingforhislonglostshakerof salt.”.....................................................................................................

With the group Alabama’s unprecedented success in the 1980s, the country was introduced to a new sound. With their blendof countryandSouthernrock,Alabamabecameoneof the most successful acts of all time. The group had 41 No. 1 hits during their career, including a streak of 21 chart-topping hits inarow.Rankingtheirsongswouldbenearimpossible.ListingtheirfamoussongsthatareuniquelySouthernandworthyof acclaimmaybeanequallydauntingtask.

Prior to signing a major record deal, Alabama spent most of their time playing at The Bowery, a night-spot in Myrtle Beach, S.C.,anexperiencethatwouldbeinspirationforoneof their


later hits, “Dancin’, Shaggin’ On The Boulevard.” Their first successfulrelease,andarguablythebandssignaturesong,“MyHome’s In Alabama,” only made it as far as No.17 on the charts in 1980. With that one release though, the autobiographical theme of the song introduced listeners to the band for the first time.ThesongisaboutayoungmanfromAlabamawhotravelsacrossthecountryinanefforttomakeitinthemusicbusinesswhilenotlosinghisroots.Afterhearingthesong,itwasasif ev-erynewfaninstantlyconnectedwiththebandandtheirmusic.RCA quickly took notice, signing the foursome to a major record deal.Astringof hitswouldfollow,includingSouthernanthemslike “Tennessee River,” “Mountain Music,” “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle In The Band),” “Song Of TheSouth,”“HighCotton,”“SouthernStar,”and“DownHome.”

PerhapstheirgreatestSouthernsongthough,istheband’soverallninthNo.1hit,“DixielandDelight.”ThiscatchytunewaspennedbysongwriterRonnieRogers,anditmarkedthebeginningof alongrelationshipbetweenAlabamaandRogers’music.EverythingaboutthesongisuniquelySouthern,somuchso, that best-selling author Clay Travis borrowed the title for his bookbasedonthetraditionsof SECfootball.“DixielandDe-light” is also sung by students and fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium at University of Alabama football games in Tuscaloosa.

In addition to their songs that praise the South and its cul-ture,theFt.Payne,Ala.,groupreleasedwhatcouldbecalledthe greatest secular Christmas song of all time, “Christmas In Dixie”in1982.ThesongremainsaChristmastraditioninmosteverySouthernhousehold.

Alabamaisretiredfromtouringnow(eachof itsmembersare doing individual projects). Country music historians widely creditleadsingerRandyOwenandtheguysforlayingthegroundworkforfuturecountrybandstobecomesuccessful......................................................................................................

The stock market crashed in 1929, and Indiana-born at-torney Hoagy Carmichael had just lost all of his savings. He wasworkingasasongwriterinNewYorkCityatthetimeandwasconsideringacareerchange,ashehadn’trealizedanysuccess.ButlaterthatyearLouisArmstrongrecordedoneof Carmichael’ssongs,“Rockin’Chair.”TherecordingwasenoughtokeepCarmichaelinthesongwritingbusiness.HewouldcombinehisverynextcompositionwithlyricswrittenbyStuartGorrellandthetwotogetherwouldgoontowriteoneof themostrecognizablesongsinallof music,“Georgia.”

CarmichaelneverlivedinGeorgia,anditwasunclearatthetimeif thesongwasaboutthestateof Georgia,oragirlnamedGeorgia(asthatwasthenameof Carmichael’ssister),thelyricsof thesongcouldapplytoeither.Carmichaelsettherecord straight in his 1965 autobiography when he wrote of an encounterwithmusicianFrankieTrumbauer.TrumbauertoldCarmichael, “Write a song called ‘Georgia.’ Nobody lost much writingabouttheSouth.”Sothenitwassettled,thecompositionwasbasedonthestate.

Carmichael first recorded the song in 1930. The next year Trumbauer recorded a version that made the Top 10 charts. It wasn’tuntilalmostthirtyyearslaterwhenRayCharlesreleased

hisR&Bversionof thesonguntilitbecameamonstersuccess.“Georgia”wasCharles’secondreleasefromhisnewlabel,ABC.The song became a Billboard No. 1, the first of his career, and oneof onlythreethathewouldeverhaveonthetopof themain chart. Willie Nelson would claim a No. 1 country hit with “Georgia” in 1978.

In 1979, Charles, a Georgia native, would perform the numberinfrontof theGeorgiaGeneralAssembly,amovethatwouldgofartohealthewoundsof racerelationsinthestateasCharleswaspreviouslybannedfromplayingtheredotohisintegrationistsbeliefs.ThenextmonththeGeorgiaAssemblyvoted to make the “Georgia” the official state song of the Peach State.

“GeorgiaOnMyMind,”takenfromthesong,wouldgoontobecomeasloganforthestate.BillboardhastheRayCharles version listed as one of the 50 greatest songs of all time. At Charles’ funeral in 2004, Willie Nelson performed the hit. MusiccomposerCarmichaeldiedin1981,butnotbeforehesaw the song he wrote in 1930 become No.1 hits for two different artists as well as the official state song of Georgia......................................................................................................

When Lynard Skynard bassist Ed King first heard the band’s guitaristGaryRossingtonplayinganunusualguitarriff,hewasinspired. That night in 1973, King had a dream in which he composedtheentiresong.Thenextmorningheplayedthemu-sictoasongthatwouldbecome“SweetHomeAlabama”totheband’sothermembers.Rossington’sguitarriffscanstillbeheardatthebeginningof thehit.

Written by band members King, Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant, “Sweet Home Alabama” was a lyrical response to twocontroversialNeilYoungsongs,“SouthernMan,”and“Alabama.”ThebandfeltthatYoung’ssongs(whichpreachedof ahistoryof racismandslaveryintheSouth)wereanunfairgeneralizationof theviewsheldbymostSoutherners.Following“Sweet Home Alabama’s” release in ‘74, Lynard Skynard had to answersomecontroversyof theirown:thesong’ssecondverse,“In Birmingham they love the governor,” which on the surface seemedtobeanendorsementof thestate’ssegregationistsgov-ernor George Wallace. The response from the band was that the following line, “We all did what we could do,” talks about efforts to vote Wallace out of office. They also make note that the backgroundvocalsinthesongatthatpartwere“Boo,boo,boo,”which they say is affirmative rejection of Wallace’s politics.

ThesongonlyreachedashighasNo.8onthecharts,butitbecamethesinglegreatestSouthernRockanthemof alltime.Virtually all rock and country artists that have come along since the 1970s have been influenced in one way or another by Lynard Skynard.Thesongitself hasbeenincorporatedintocountlesspopculturereferences.ThemoviesForrest GumpandCrimson Tide both prominently feature the song. A 2002 motion picture release starring Reese Witherspoon not only featured the song, butalsotookitsnamefromthesong’stitle.RecentKFC(Ken-tuckyFriedChicken)promotionsevenfeaturetherecognizablemusic from the popular song. In 2008, Kid Rock released a hitsingle,“AllSummerLong,”whichisastoryof aparticularsummerduringRock’sadolescentsspentinNorthernMichigan


in which he and friends listened to “‘Sweet Home Alabama’ all summerlong.”Rock’shitcreditstheoriginalLynardSkynardband members as co-writers.

In addition to being played prior to every home University of Alabamafootballgame,inwhichthehomefansinsertthecheer, “Roll Tide, Roll,” following the first line of the chorus, the song has finally been embraced by the state of Alabama. In 2008, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley noted that the song is the third most played song of all time about a specific destination. “Sweet Home Alabama” now is the official slogan for the tourism and marketingarmof thestateanditisnowreadonallstatelicenseplates.

NodoubtthegreatestSouthernRocksongof alltime,LynardSky-nard’ssignaturesongnotonlyservesasananthemforresi-dentsof Alabama,butitisasongthatwillforeverbeembracedbyallSouth-erners…and if Yankee’s likeit,thenweguessthatisokay,too.........................................

OhionativeDanielEmmettwrotemusicforminstrelsandplaysinthe 1800s. Though he wrote countless songs, heisbestrememberedtodayforwriting“Dixie.”Thisclassicwasfirstperformed on-stage in New York City in 1859. At that time the term“Dixie”wasnotsocloselyassociatedwiththeAmericanSouth. It is widely accepted that the word “Dixie” gets its origins from The Mason-Dixon Line, the line that divides Maryland and Delaware—signifying the geographical divide from North-ernStatesandSouthernStates.Othersbelieve,however,thattheterm“Dixie”wasassociatedtotheSouthduetoTheBankof Louisiana’s printing of ten-dollar bills. “Dix” is French for ten,thustheword“Dixie”beingusedasatermtodescribeSouthernmoney.Regardlesstowhichtheoryonesubscribestoon the origin of the word, Emmett’s song “Dixie” for the first timemadethedirectassociationbetweentheAmericanSouthandtheword,“Dixie.”

Thereissomedebateastoif Emmettwasthesong’sonlywriter.Descendentsof theSnowdenFamily,a19thcenturyblackband,haveclaimedthattheirancestorshadahandinwriting the song—and there is some loose evidence that Em-mettbasedpartof thesongonanoldblackfolktune.Emmettneverhadaconsistentstorywhentalkingaboutthesong.Hehadclaimedhewrotethesonginafewminutesononeoccasionandafewdaysonanother.Oneaccounthashimwritingitona Sunday afternoon after a flash put the idea in his head. Other accountshavehimbeingmotivatedbywatchingoutawindowatacoldrainydayintheNorthandwishinghewas“waydownSouthinDixie.”Allof theseaccountsmayholdasmuchfolkloreastheyholdtruth,

Often times referred to as “Dixieland,” or “Way Down South

In Dixie,” the song’s original title was “I Wish I Was In Dixie’s Land.”Thesongiscreditedforcreatingcatchphrasesandcli-chésthatwouldforeverbedottedinAmericanvocabulary.Fol-lowing the breakout of the Civil War, the song would be adapted as the unofficial anthem of the Confederate States of America, promptingbothsidesof thewartocreatecountlessparodiesof the song. Upon hearing the news that Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox in 1865, in an effort to promote healingPresidentLincolnorderedhisbandtoplay“Dixie.”

Althoughnotintendedtobeafolksong,“Dixie”hastakenon that label over the last century—providing inspiration for countless other songs that have been major hits. One of the mostnotableadaptationswasacompositionbyMickeyNew-berry in 1972. He mixed “Dixie” with two other 19th century

songs,“TheBattleHymnOf TheRepublic,”andasongcloselyrelatedtoblackspirituals,“AllMyTrials.”The

result, “American Trilogy,” would go on to define the live performancestowardtheendof ElvisPresley’scareer.Othersongsthatcenteron“Dixie’s”strongassociationof place include “Dixie Chicken,” and “If Heaven Ain’t A Lot like Dixie,” just to name a few. Other pop culturalreferencesconsistof thesongbeingwhistledorplayedincartoons,aswellasariff fromthesong

beingconvertedintoacarhornforthepopularCBStelevisionseriesThe Dukes Of Hazzard.

If for no other reason Emmett’s masterpiece deserves recognitionbecauseit’sasongthatsoundsawesomewhether

it’s played fast or slow. You can clap your hands and jump for joy when it’s quick, or a tear will form when you sing the song asaballad.

“Dixie”hasmadeasignificant transition inmeaningthroughouthistory.Fromitsoriginsasaminstrelsongthatwassympathetictoslavery,toasongthatisnowanemotionalsongabout friends and family in the South. “Dixie” was an unofficial fight song for many Southern university sports teams. Most have sincescrappedthesongduetoitsperceivedpoliticalincorrect-ness. A few universities, including the University of Mississippi andTheCitadel,havebeenabletolatchontothesensibleunderstandingthatthesong’scurrentmeaningof anostalgicsense of place where family and friends enjoy good humor and lasting memories is widely-embraced. Today, no realistic person actuallybelievesthatbysinging“Dixie”oneissomehowbe-ingnostalgicforsegregationandslavery.Thesong“Dixie”isproudly performed at University of Mississippi sporting events alongwithanadoptionof Newberry’s“AmericanTrilogy,”whichtheOleMiss“PrideOf TheSouthBand”referstoas,“From Dixie With Love.” The arrangement continues to be the mostpopularsongintheband’srepertoire,sparkingwarmap-plause from both home and away fans. In Charleston, S.C., the Regimental Band of The Citadel (cadets from The Citadel fired the first shots of the Civil War on Jan. 9, 1861) performs “Dixie” onselectoccasions.

Today’smoderninterpretationof “Dixie”beingasongaboutthewonderfulplaceinwhichweliveandthewonderfulpeoplewithwhomweshareit,alongwiththefactthatthesongiscreditedforcreatingtheassociationof theword“Dixie”tothegeographicregionof theAmericanSouth,makes“Dixie”theGreatestSouthernSong!


PIGEON FORGE , TE N NESSE E

In the Smoky Mountain town of

there’s no such thing as grown-ups.

Welcome to a land of carousels and wooden coasters, mini-golf

and pancakes. A place where the fresh mountain air is lightly

scented with popcorn and cotton candy. And every day feels

like that magical county fair – one that simply decided to never

leave town. Welcome to Pigeon Forge – the official playground

of the Great Smoky Mountains. And all the inspiration you and

your family will ever need to never grow up.

PFT7566_Mrr_Y'all.indd 1 1/19/09 5:24:47 PM

30 greatest sountern songs

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