Tennessee Waltz

Written in 1946 by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart while traveling from Texas to Nashville, composed after hearing Bill Monroe sing “Kentucky Waltz” on the radio. The song tells the story of someone whose sweetheart is stolen away by a friend during a dance to the Tennessee Waltz. King and Stewart’s original recording in 1947 sold 300,000 copies, but the song became a massive hit when Patti Page recorded “The Tennessee Waltz” in 1950, selling over 2.3 million copies and spending nine weeks at #1. Page’s multi-tracked vocal arrangement became the template for countless covers.

The song’s success led to covers by Les Paul & Mary Ford, Jo Stafford, and Guy Lombardo, with combined sales exceeding 4.8 million copies by 1951. In 1965, it became the fourth official song of Tennessee, and the original manuscript is now displayed at the University of Tennessee’s Natalie L. Haslam Music Center. The song has been recorded over 500 times and sold around 14 million records total. Page’s recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and added to the National Recording Registry in 2024.