"Tennessee Whiskey" is a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

song written by

Dean Dillon Dean Dillon (born Larry Dean Flynn; March 26, 1955) is an American country musician and songwriter. Between 1982 and 1993, he recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the '' Billboard'' country charts. Since 1 ...

and

Linda Hargrove Linda Hargrove (married name Bartholomew, born Tallahassee, Florida February 3, 1949 – October 24, 2010, Tallahassee, Florida) was an American country songwriter and musician. She wrote many country music hits for a variety of artists and h ...

. It was originally recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

David Allan Coe David Allan Coe (born September 6, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter. Coe took up music after spending much of his early life in reform schools and prisons, and first became notable for busking in Nashville. He initially played mostly i ...

for his album of the same name ''

Tennessee Whiskey Tennessee whiskey is straight whiskey produced in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Although it has been legally defined as a bourbon whiskey in some international trade agreements, most current producers of Tennessee whiskey disclaim references to ...

'', whose version peaked at number 77 on the '' Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart in 1981.

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

' 1983 version of the song was included on his album '' Shine On'', and reached number two on the Hot Country Singles chart. The song has been covered by several artists, including Chris Stapleton, whose breakout performance of the song at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards with Justin Timberlake propelled the song to a greater level of popularity. Stapleton's version of the song has been certified

Diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Composition and David Allan Coe's recording

"Tennessee Whiskey" was written in 1981 by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove. The pair decided to write a song together after meeting each other at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. He had an idea for it for some time and they went back to Hargrove's house to write the song at four o'clock in the morning. After completion, the song was first offered to George Strait but he turned it down. It was first recorded by American

artist

for his album of the same name ''

'' released in 1981. His version is recorded in more of a traditional country style. Commercially, it peaked at number 77 on the US '' Billboard''

chart.

Charts

George Jones version

The song was later covered by fellow American country music artist

, whose version was released in August 1983 as the third single from his album '' Shine On''. Jones' version reached a new peak commercially, reaching number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart in November 1983 and number one on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada. The song remained a mainstay in Jones' live set, with the singer often substituting the name of whatever city or town he was in for "Tennessee" in the second chorus. In 1985, he performed the song at the inaugural

Farm Aid Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers. History On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United St ...

, and Coe joined Jones onstage to sing a chorus.

Charts

Chris Stapleton version

American singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton recorded an R&B-influenced cover of the song for his debut studio album '' Traveller'' released in 2015. Stapleton first sang his version on the spur of the moment while the band were playing during a soundcheck before a show in Charlottesville, Virginia. Stapleton and the band enjoyed playing the song, and he decided to sing the song every show. The song's melody is an almost note-for-note rendition of Etta James' song "

I'd Rather Go Blind "I'd Rather Go Blind" is a blues song written by Ellington Jordan and co-credited to Billy Foster and Etta James. It was first recorded by Etta James in 1967, released in 1967, and has subsequently become regarded as a blues and soul classic. Or ...

." His producer

Dave Cobb Dave Cobb (born July 9, 1974) is an American record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen and Rival Sons . Cob ...

heard the song and suggested that he should record the song for his album. His cover was never officially released to radio as a single, but it was released as a promotional

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

. On November 4, 2015, Stapleton performed it at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards as a duet with Justin Timberlake. The performance was described as the best moment of the night by music writers. Based solely on two days' sales after the broadcast, it reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, and number 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, selling 131,000 copies. It peaked at number 20 on the Hot 100 the following week, selling a further 118,000 copies. It was certified Platinum by the RIAA on May 4, 2016, and reached over a million in sales in the US by January 2017. It was certified 6× Platinum on July 31, 2019, for 6 million units in combined streams and sales. It has sold 1.98 million copies in the US as of March 2020. Stapleton and Timberlake also performed the song at the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival and at the

Man of the Woods Tour The Man of the Woods Tour was the sixth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. Launched in support of his fifth studio album, ''Man of the Woods'' (2018), the tour began on March 13, 2018, in Toronto and concluded on April ...

's Nashville concert. The song was nominated for ACM Song of the Year in 2017.

Chris Stapleton

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

Meghan Linsey Meghan Linsey (born December 10, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. A Ponchatoula, Louisiana native, Linsey started her musical career by forming Steel Magnolia with her boyfriend of three years, Joshua Scott Jones. Before trying out for ...

performed the song on

season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'' in May 2015. Her version charted on the country chart after her performance with 32,000 copies sold that week. Deana Martin gave "Tennessee Whiskey" a new beat when she recorded it for her 2016 album ''Swing Street''. A

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

video featuring Kris Jones at the wheel of his pickup truck, recorded by his daughter Dayla, went viral and has gained over 35 million views. It led to a performance on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

''. In 2017,

Stan Walker Stan Walker (born 23 October 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand singer, actor, and television personality. In 2009, Walker was the winner of the seventh and last season of ''Australian Idol''. He subsequently signed a recording contract ...

and Parson James released a version as a single. Australian singer Judah Kelly covered the song on his debut album, '' Count On Me'' (2017). Keke Wyatt also covered the song in 2017 for her album of covers called ''Keke Covers'' where she did an R&B inspired version of the tune. T-Pain released a version of "Tennessee Whiskey" on his covers album '' On Top of the Covers'' (2023). A video of Døvydas and Vere Hill singing the track has garnered almost 20 million views as of early 2023.

Charts

Meghan Linsey

In other media

In March 2018, it was announced that ''Tennessee Whiskey: The Musical'', a play for

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and based on the story of Dean Dillon, is in the pre-production phase. Stapleton's cover appears in George Clooney’s sci-fi film '' The Midnight Sky''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Songs about alcohol 1981 singles 1983 singles David Allan Coe songs George Jones songs Chris Stapleton songs Songs written by Dean Dillon Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill Songs written by Linda Hargrove Columbia Records singles Epic Records singles Mercury Nashville singles Decca Records singles 1981 songs Country ballads 2010s ballads Song recordings produced by Dave Cobb