Pee Wee King, 1914–2000 · Redd Stewart, 1923–2003 · written 1946 · published by Acuff-Rose Music
King and Stewart wrote “Tennessee Waltz” in 1946, on the road to Nashville, after hearing Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz” and deciding their own state deserved one. Henry Ellis “Redd” Stewart, born in Ashland City, Tennessee, had joined the Golden West Cowboys in 1937 and became the band’s lead singer after Eddy Arnold went solo; he also wrote “Soldier’s Last Letter,” a 1944 hit for Ernest Tubb, and co-wrote “You Belong to Me” with King. They also made the first released recording of their own song — though not the first recording of it: Cowboy Copas, who had sung with the Golden West Cowboys himself, got the song onto tape in April 1947, eight months before its writers did.