The 30 or so Greatest Southern Songs

Y’ALL, March/April 2009, Volume 7, Number 1, page 36

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

Basically all forms of American music originated in the American South. From The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers to Elvis Presley and Robert Johnson, the South’s cultural influence on American music cannot be argued nor measured. Why is it that so many Southerners go on to make some of the deepest marks in musical history? Perhaps it could be the people and the place that inspires them. There is no doubt that the South has the highest concentration of regional pride in the country and that pride can be illustrated by our music. That got all of us at Y’all Magazine thinking about what the greatest Southern songs of all time would be. The criteria would have to be that the songs provoke a uniquely Southern experience, either by place or emotion. The songs could be of any format and would need to have stood the test of time. The following is a list of songs we rank as the “Greatest Southern Songs.” 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 from you. Please email us with your feedback at southernsongs@yall.com or leave us a comment at www.yall.com.

30. Copperhead Road

When Virginia-born singer songwriter Steve Earle moved to Texas during his adolescence, there was no doubt he wanted to be a musician. He dropped out of school in ninth grade and moved to Houston to learn about the music business. Then after moving to Nashville, his acclaim, talent and hard-line political views made him stand out from mainstream country artists.

The album Copperhead Road was released in 1988, and received gold status. Its title song tells the story of a family of moonshine bootleggers in East Tennessee. The story culminates with the son returning from the Vietnam War to Johnson County where he transforms the family business from moonshine to growing “seed from Columbia and Mexico.” The song made reference to another bootlegging song, “The Ballad Of Thunder Road,” as the sheriff implied to the boy’s mother that his father had died in a car wreck while running whiskey into Knoxville.

Moonshine references, the glamorized tradition of bootlegging and suped-up cars along with the conflicted expectation of Vietnam-era patriotism all combine to make “Copperhead Road” a song that will live within American and Southern pop culture for years to come. In addition to the song’s accomplished theme and detached overtone, it is also credited with helping to make line dancing popular as the song inspired a popular dance that is timed with its beat.

29. East Bound and Down

In 1977, Georgia native Jerry Reed had already spent years on the country music scene. Throughout that time, he garnered two No. 1 hits; the first chart-topper was the self-penned “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot.” The second was the song “Lord, Mr. Ford,” written by Dick Feller. Reed and Feller teamed-up as songwriters to compose a song that would help shape a pop-culture movement and give score to one of the top grossing films of that year, 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 tells the story of two professional truck drivers who have been paid to make a bootlegging run from Atlanta, Ga., to Texarkana, Texas, and back within 28 hours. The bounty: Coors beer. Federal liquor and state tax laws made it impossible to legally buy Coors east of Texas, forcing a minor bootlegging fad in the 1970s. Laws were repealed or relaxed in the ‘80s making way for Coors to legally be distributed in the rest of the South.

The song “East Bound And Down,” as well as the movie, further introduced a generation of kids to trucker-talk and CB handles that would continue to be popular in the rural South until the availability of affordable cellular phones in the late ‘90s.

“East Bound And Down” spent two weeks at No. 2 on the charts in 1977, and Smokey And The Bandit was the second grossing movie of the year, losing the top spot only to Star Wars.

28. The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia

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 pitched to Cher, but her husband and manager, Sonny Bono, passed on the song, thinking it would offend her Southern fans. Lawrence went on to release the Southern Gothic up-tempo ballad herself and earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts.

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 wife has had numerous affairs in his absence, one with his best friend Andy Wooloh. Going home to confront his wife, he finds an empty house and assumes she left town. Seeking revenge on 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.” The song concludes with the confession of the narrator (the sister) admitting to the murders and claiming her brother was lynched before she could take credit for the crimes.

Tanya Tucker recorded a slightly different version of the song for a 1981 movie bearing the same title. Southern justice was taken to extremes again in 1991 when Reba McEntire recorded a cover of the song on her album For My Broken Heart. The song peaked at No.12, but the video received high marks from the industry. Today, both the song and video continue to receive considerable airplay.

27. Ballad of Jed Clampett

Few People had a more influential role in 1960s television than Missouri native Paul Henning. As a writer for series like The Andy Griffith Show, Henning went on to make his mark on show business as a creator for many of the rural sitcoms of the era. He had a hand in developing Green Acres, and he created Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies. Based on experiences while camping in the Ozarks, Henning developed the concept for The Beverly Hillbillies, and wrote the music and lyrics to its opening theme 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 like Neal McCoy and Kid Rock.

Jerry Scoggins, a part-time singer and stockbroker, sang the original version of the song, which features the bluegrass stylings of legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. In 1993, a then retired Scoggins heard that 20th Century Fox was making a movie based on the television series. Scoggins contacted the studio only to learn that the film’s producers had no idea he was still alive. Even though Fox had suggested that Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash sing the theme song, the film’s director, Penelope Spheeris, insisted that Scoggins have the honors. Prior to his death in 2004, Scoggins claimed to have sang the song over 1,000 times.

26. Country Roads

Prior to becoming a household name, in 1970 John Denver was playing at The Cellar Door, a folk music 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 impromptu jam session at one of their houses. It was there where Danoff and Nivert first played a raw version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” for Denver. The two had began writing the ballad while on a trip to visit Nivert’s family in rural Maryland, thus the 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 the three worked on the music and altered the lyrics throughout the night. They debuted the song at The Cellar Door as an encore on December 30, 1970. The song was so new, that they had to read the lyrics from folded pieces of paper. As the legend goes, the song received more than five minutes of standing ovation, a record not broken to this day at the club.

The song was released in the spring of ‘71, on Denver’s Poems, Prayers And Promises album. RCA almost gave up on the single after little airplay and little feedback. Denver urged them to be patient with the release. They did, and it paid off. By late summer 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 University. It’s played again at the end of victorious home games, where fans and students are encouraged to sing along with the players. Resolutions have been brought before the West Virginia House of Delegates to officially make the popular ballad the state song, but for a variety of reasons, this has not happened. The song continues to be the signature song for the late singer.

25. Callin, Baton Rouge

Born in Abilene, Texas, songwriter Dennis Linde penned countless hits over his 40 years in the business. After writing “Burning Love” for Elvis Presely, Linde enjoyed moderate success through the ‘70s and ‘80s. It wasn’t until 1993 when three of his songs (“Bubba Shot The Jukebox,” “John Deere Green” and “Janie Baker’s Love Slave”) all became hits, that he truly gained industry-wide recognition—being named the Nashville Songwriter Association’s “Songwriter of the Year.”

With the many hits and songwriting success that Linde enjoyed, it’s hard to believe that one of his biggest songs was almost forgotten. “Callin’ Baton Rouge” is a fun upbeat tale of a traveling man who “spent last night in the arms of a girl in Louisiana.” And upon leaving town has grown more and more fond of her, to the point of obsession.

“Callin’ Baton Rouge” was first recorded in 1978 by the Oak Ridge Boys. New Grass Revival released their own version of the song in 1987, and it peaked at No. 37 on the country charts. It wasn’t until 1993 when country music’s biggest star, Garth Brooks, released the song on his In Pieces album that it became a mega-hit, as the album release debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. Today, in addition to continued airplay on radio, the song “Callin’ Baton Rouge” can be heard in its entirety prior to home LSU football games, where up to 100,000 Tiger fans sing along during the pregame warmups. The song is also a signature track on Brooks’ Double Live album.

24. Battle of New Orleans

In the late 1950s music executives discovered an Arkansas school principal who enjoyed writing songs about historical events as a way to help his students learn history. Jimmie Driftwood would then have a chance for his catchy little songs to be heard by millions. Signed by RCA in 1958, Driftwood had originally approached a different record label in efforts to get a recording deal. Hit record producer Buddy Killen, who is largely credited with launching the careers of Dolly Parton and Roger Miller, heard the first two lines of Driftwood’s “Battle Of New Orleans,” and told Driftwood, “Son if that’s the kinda stuff 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 country artist named Johnny Horton recorded the “Battle Of New Orleans” that Driftwood’s song became a true hit. Horton’s song was No. 1 on the charts for ten consecutive weeks in 1959.

After the song’s success, Driftwood ran into the first record producer that turned him down. As the story goes, Killen promptly turned around, bent over and instructed Driftwood to “kick me!”

Horton’s version won a Grammy for Best Country & Western Recording and would prove to be the biggest hit of his short career. At age 35, Horton was killed by a drunk driver after playing at the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas, the same place where Hank Williams last performed prior to his death. In an odd twist, Horton’s widow, Billie Jean Jones, was also married to the late Williams prior to his 1953 death.

“The Battle of New Orleans” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001, and is listed as one of Billboard’s “Top Songs of the Century.”

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a parody version of the classic song was written by radio personality Chuck Redden and was recorded and released by country comedian Ray Stevens.

23. Theme From The Dukes Of Hazzard (Good Ol, Boys)

In the early ‘80s, there was no TIVO, and only few people had a video recorder, thus there was never a need to ask your fellow Southerner what they would be doing on a Friday night. The television network CBS owned Friday nights with shows like Dallas and The Dukes Of Hazzard. Although the theme song to Dallas is as well known as the show itself, the theme song for The Dukes Of Hazzard would not only become one of the most recognizable theme songs ever, it would become one of the signature songs of country music legend Waylon Jennings.

Jennings was asked to write the theme song for the series that involved the antics of two cousins trying to stay out of trouble in small town Georgia while avoiding the inept and corrupt county officials.

The radio version of the song was a No.1 hit for Jennings in 1980. For the TV series, Jennings performed a slightly different version than the radio release. The TV version includes the verse, “they keep showing my hands, but not my face on TV,” which is a reference to the opening credits of the show where all you see is a tight shot is the singer’s hands playing the guitar.

As the popularity of the TV series grew into television movies 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 Knoxville. Jennings’ son, Shooter, is known for singing the song as a tribute to his father, as well.

22. Every Song About Texas

Picking the greatest Texas song could be worthy of an entire magazine. How could one begin to rank “Eyes Of Texas, ” “El Paso,” “Amarillo By Morning,” and to some extent, the theme song 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 are not even going to attempt to do so. From Tex Ritter, to Marty Robbins, to George Strait, the state of Texas has been immortalized in song since the first time settlers crossed the Sabine River. We at Y’all love Southern college football, so songs that are related to football game festivities have a certain degree of preference; and since the University of Texas plays “Eyes Of Texas” prior to all sporting events, we slightly give the Horns’ pick an edge. The song was also sung at the funeral of former first lady Lady Bird Johnson.

21. Okie From Muskogee

Co-written by Merle Haggard and Roy Edward Burris (Haggard’s drummer), “Okie From Muskogee” was originally written as a satire of small-town, middle-American values at the height of the Vietnam War. Haggard’s father was from Oklahoma, and the song was intended to illustrate as much of a generational divide in the country as a cultural divide. While larger cities were sites of anti-war protests, small-town America remained largely untouched by the social movements of the era. The song’s lyrics spoke of patriotic residents who never burnt their draft cards, never used illegal narcotics, or wore beads and sandals like people in West Coast cities.

The satiric song did not go over well with middle-Americans from those small towns, perhaps that’s because they didn’t get the satire. Instead, they took a literal interpretation of the lyrics and made the song an instant hit.

The result of the song’s success was an overwhelming scream from the silent majority of the 1960s, whom for so long felt so out-numbered by the constant beating of the pop culture drum. Finally, somebody was giving them a voice, albeit a satirical one. 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’ Side Of Me,” a period of Haggard’s career that forever cemented his title as the “The Poet Of The Common Man”

“Okie From Muskogee” won the CMA single of the year that year, and following the song’s success Haggard recorded a live version in Muskogee, Okla., that also became famous.

Politically, the song’s success grew from the anti-antiwar movement, from people who were tired of the protests and the decay of traditional American values. Historically, “Okie From Muskogee” may have accidentally been the first pop-culture reference to what would become the cultural divide of modern political ideological differences between Americans on the East and West coast, versus those in the South and Midwest.