Rocky Top: A Song History

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For all its likeness to old Appalachian fiddle tunes, “Rocky Top” is a composed song: the married songwriting team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant wrote it in 1967 in room 388 of the Gatlinburg Inn in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.[1][2] The Tennessee Music Pathways marker at the inn dates the writing to August 1967 and says the couple had been asked for ballads about growing older for an Archie Campbell album, and turned to this bluegrass-style number as a change of pace.[1] In the story the U.S. Copyright Office passes along, the song took them only about ten minutes, a figure UT Libraries’ Volopedia repeats; the marker says 10 or 15.[2][3][1]

Pencil drawing of a hunter seated on a rocky mountaintop with his dogs, hills and trees behind

Frank Wilcox, Mountain Top, pencil, c. 1928. Shown for its mountain setting; it has no connection to the song.

The Osborne Brothers made the first recording, for Decca, on November 16, 1967, at Bradley’s Barn in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.[1][4] The Discography of American Historical Recordings lists it as issued on Decca single 9-32242, with Sonny Osborne on banjo, Bobby Osborne on mandolin, and session players including Grady Martin on guitar and Hal Rugg on steel guitar.[4] The single entered Billboard’s country chart in February 1968 and reached No. 33 that March.[5] Lynn Anderson’s version went further in 1970, peaking at No. 17 on the same chart in July.[6]

Tennessee made “Rocky Top” one of its official state songs in 1982.[7] At the University of Tennessee, band director W. J. Julian had the Pride of the Southland Band play it at halftime of the October 21, 1972, football game against Alabama, and the song has been part of UT athletics ever since.[8][3] The rights belong to the House of Bryant, a Gatlinburg company, on behalf of the couple’s sons, and the university plays the song under license.[3] A 2019 Copyright Office article points out that it is not the university’s official fight song, describes that license as perpetual, and gives the song’s copyright protection as lasting until 2062.[2] Judy House includes it in Jam Across America, a 178-page jam book for mountain dulcimer clubs that she published herself, with songs chosen from club playlists around the country and every arrangement in DAD tuning.[9]

Our book that contains the song "Rocky Top"

Sources

  1. Historical Marker Database: "Rocky Top" (Tennessee Music Pathways marker, Gatlinburg Inn).
  2. U.S. Copyright Office: "Is Your Favorite Fight Song Under Copyright Protection?" (Copyright Lore, May 2019).
  3. University of Tennessee Libraries, Volopedia: "Rocky Top".
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Decca matrix NA 14849. Rocky top / Osborne Brothers".
  5. Billboard: "Hot Country Songs" (chart dated March 16, 1968).
  6. Billboard: "Hot Country Songs" (chart dated July 18, 1970).
  7. State of Tennessee: "State Songs".
  8. University of Tennessee, Torchbearer: "50 Years of 'Rocky Top'".
  9. Judy House: "Jam Across America".
  10. Image: Frank Wilcox, Mountain Top, pencil, c. 1928. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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