How our favorite Vol song got its start and found its way to our beloved team
In 1945, a 19-year-old Sicilian woman by the name of Matilda Scaduto worked as a lift elevator operator at the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant, a touring musician from Georgia, happened to enter her elevator, she literally saw the man in her dreams. “I’ve been looking for you,” she declared, later explaining, “I had a dream of this man when I was eight years old. I recognized him right away.” As for the 25-year-old violinist for a traveling band sched- uled to play at the hotel, it was love at first sight. Five days later, they were married. Later, Boudleaux decided to call his new bride “Felice,” a label that stuck.
While Felice had no formal training in music, her family played by ear and often sang together at their home. With a love of music and with empty pocketbooks, the young couple moved to Moultrie, Georgia, where Boudleaux worked as a mechanic and as a part-time entertainer. While the two scraped by financially, they really wanted to make their living by writing songs. She was imaginative
and had a knack for lyrics. He put their creations to paper. One of their first songs, “Country Boy,” was purchased and recorded by Little Jimmy Dickens, a regular with the Grand Ole Opry. After the release of that song, things began to click. In 1950, their fifth year of marriage, they moved their songwriting talents to Nashville, unintentionally starting a trend that eventually helped turn our state capitol into “Music City.” The couple attributed their success in selling their records to a scheme literally “cooked up” by Felice. Her Italian cuisine, especially chicken cacciatore and spaghetti with meatballs, was popular with the local vocalists. After dinner, Boudleaux would play and sing their latest works. More often than not, the combination of good food and good music — what they called their “pasta scam” — resulted in a sale.
In careers that produced over 6,000 songs, many of which were recorded by practically every major recording artist, they early on hit the jackpot with their association with the Everly Brothers. Don and Phil, who had Knoxville connections, recorded 29 Bryant tunes in all. Of these, 12 qualified as hits, including such notables as “Bye, Bye Love,” followed by “Wake Up Little Susie” and “All I Have to Do Is Dream.” While describing the Bryants as “masters,” Phil once remarked, “I learned more from them than anybody.”
While most of the 11 songs in the album were Bryant creations, the story goes that they tired of the slower pace and, as a diversion, penned an upbeat song they titled “Rocky Top.”
In 1967, country music megastar Archie Campbell, the pride of Bulls Gap, asked the Bryants to write some slow songs for an album he planned to call The Golden Years. On August 28, the couple checked into room 388 at Rel and Wilma Maples’ Gatlinburg Inn to focus on the project. While most of the 11 songs in the album were Bryant creations, the story goes that they tired of the slower pace and, as a diversion, penned an upbeat song they titled “Rocky Top.” Campbell didn’t pick up that song but the Osbourne Brothers, Sonny and Bobby of bluegrass fame, recorded an up-tempo version and put it on the B-Side of one of their records (for trivia fans the A-Side was “My Favorite Memory”). Ralph Emery, who was then a mere radio show host and well before becoming a country music icon, was the first to play “Rocky Top” on the air. The song was well received and peaked at number 33 on the charts. In 1970, a Lynn Anderson release of the spirited tune did even better, climbing to 17 on the country charts — not bad for the ten or so minutes the Bryants had invested in spawning their new creation.
Of course, the story does not end there. In 1972, W.J. Julian, the band director for the Pride of the Southland Band at the University of Tennessee, agreed to include a Barry MacDonald arrangement of “Rocky Top” at the half- time show of the Alabama-Tennessee game at Neyland Stadium. Even though the Vols were nipped by the Tide that third Saturday in October, the crowd responded favorably. So, Julian staged a repeat performance at the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston the following New Year’s Eve. This time the Big Orange triumphed, defeating the LSU Bengal Tigers, 24-17.
Thanks to the perpetual license granted to the University by the Bryants, the song has been a staple
at Tennessee football and basketball games ever since. Although “Down the Field” serves as the official fight song for the Vols, in 2015 USA Today designated “Rocky Top” as the number one fight song in all of college football. Heck, Dolly Parton is among the many who have recorded the song. Peyton Manning learned all six verses of the song well before spontaneously conducting the band after a big win at the stadium. Much to the annoyance of the opposing teams’ fans, the Vol faithful join in on the delightful chorus several times each game: “Rocky Top, you’ll always be home sweet home to me, good ole Rocky Top (whee), Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee.”
Boudleaux died in 1987. Felice lived in Gatlinburg until her death 16 years later. They have been named to both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and were posthumously honored with the President’s Award from the American Music Association.
With apologies to the town in Anderson County which voted to adopt the same name as the popular Bryant melody, there was a genuine Rocky Top before the song was written, and it is right here in our Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Along the Appalachian Trail just past Spence Field and on the way to Thunderhead Mountain is a stone outcropping identified on a 1934 map as Rocky Top. Of interest, the House of Bryant, which now owns the rights to the song, failed to convince the United States District Court to enjoin the former Lake City, a community of some 1,728 good citizens, from adopting its new name.
Before her own death in 2011, Wilma Maples had become the go-to source for those who wanted to know more about the Bryants, their connection to Gatlinburg, and, of course, their favorite place to stay. The Inn, established some 87 years ago on the Parkway in the center of town, is now truly historic, a genuine landmark in this resort community. Room 388 has been preserved just as it was in 1967. While a few modern amenities have been added to meet the expectations of their current guests, the ceiling, walls, and furniture remain unchanged, just as enjoyed by the Bryants so long ago. The most popular room at the hotel? Make a guess.