While experiencing burnout from penning a series of ballads, songwriter Felice Bryant said to her husband and fellow songwriter Boudleaux Bryant: “Boudleaux, let’s do a mountain song, a bluegrass song, anything else.” Little did the songwriting duo know, their next song, written while trying to cure Felice’s writer’s block, would be their biggest hit.
A Marriage Built on Music
Born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto in 1925, the Milwaukee, Wisconsin native garnered the nickname “Felice” by her husband Boudleaux. The two met when the 19-year-old Felice was an elevator operator at a hotel. When she first saw Boudleaux across the hotel lobby—though they had not yet met—Felice said she recognized him immediately. Having dreamt of him when she was 8 years old, she “looked for him forever” until their eyes first met that day in 1945.
The two hit it off immediately and wasted no time tying the knot. After spending less than a week together, they were married.
Boudleaux Bryant was a southern man from the small, rural town of Shellman, Georgia. He spent his adolescent years studying classical violin, and even performed with the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra for a season in the 1930s. Despite his classical beginnings, he always favored the fiddling style of country music.
Felice also expressed an interest in music from a young age. Before meeting Boudleaux, she wrote traditional Italian music associated with her Sicilian lineage. She spent time with the United Service Organizations (USO) as a singer and director.
After the Bryants married, they immediately worked on music together. The songwriting duo wrote about 80 songs during their first year as a married couple. While they faced rejection after rejection from music executives, they caught a break when country star Little Jimmy Dickens recorded their tune “Country Boy” in 1948. The song broke the top 10 on country charts, opening the door to more professional opportunities.
While living in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1950s, they wrote a string of hits. They became regular writers for the hit pop act The Everly Brothers, penning the duo’s chart-topping single “Bye, Bye, Love.” They also penned popular songs for stars such as Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly.
The Gatlinburg Inn Songwriting Sessions
The Bryants occasionally conducted songwriting sessions at The Gatlinburg Inn in Tennessee. As they worked through a series of slow songs for Chet Atkins and Archie Campbell, the languid pace of the tunes got to Felice. Suddenly, she asked Boudleaux if they could change things up.
Within 10 minutes, they wrote the fast-paced bluegrass anthem, “Rocky Top.”
The toe-tapping single was written as a tribute to America’s rustic traditions—especially those found in the country’s southern and Appalachian regions. Full of nostalgia, the tune narrates the longing for a simpler way of life found in the Tennessee mountains, where there’s no “smoggy smoke” or “telephone bills” waiting for you. For the narrator, the hills, open land, and rocky mountains of the Volunteer State was always “home sweet home.”
In 1967, the popular bluegrass group The Osborne Brothers, picked up the anthemic number while looking to add one more song to their selection of recordings. Sonny Osborne called up Boudleaux, who happened to be his neighbor and very good friend. The Bryants gave The Osborne Brothers permission to record “Rocky Top.” Though it was a last-minute filler track for their recording session, it later debuted as the B-side track on their 1967 Christmas day album. Soon, it outpaced the record’s A-side single, “My Favorite Memory.”
The tune became a DJ favorite at radio stations across the country. When country singer Lynn Anderson recorded her version of “Rocky Top” in 1970, it became a top 20 hit.
Sonny once remarked on the song’s worldwide popularity during an interview:
Pride of the Southland Band
The tune quickly became a symbol of southern pride. It had a significant cultural impact on Tennessee due to the lyrics.
The Pride of the Southland Band, University of Tennessee’s marching band, first played “Rocky Top” in October 1972, during a football game halftime between the Tennessee Volunteers and Alabama Crimson Tide. The song instantly became a crowd favorite. “Rocky Top” is now one of the signature songs of the team’s marching band and has become synonymous with the Volunteers, who adopted the anthem as an unofficial “fight song” for the team.
A Celebration of Southern Culture
Supposedly, the Bryants wrote “Rocky Top” in honor of a peak in the Great Smoky Mountains along the Tennessee and North Carolina border. The exact location of this homespun paradise has never been officially revealed.
The song could be about a specific place, but the message transcends its debated location. “Rocky Top” stands as a celebration of southern culture, of taking one’s time and living slowly, and appreciating what one already has. Listeners can relate to the single’s nostalgia and enjoy reminiscing about the good old days no matter where they call home.
