"Smoky Mountain Rain" is a song written by

Kye Fleming Rhonda Kye Fleming (born October 9, 1951) is an American singer/songwriter and music publisher working in Nashville, Tennessee. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009 and has won more than 42 BMI Awards, including B ...

and

Dennis Morgan Dennis Morgan (born Earl Stanley Morner, December 20, 1908 – September 7, 1994) was an American actor-singer. He used the acting pseudonym Richard Stanley before adopting the name under which he gained his greatest fame. According to one obi ...

, and 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, ...

singer

Ronnie Milsap Ronnie Lee Milsap (born Ronald Lee Millsaps; January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music's most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly completely blind from birth, ...

. It was released in September 1980 as the first and only single from his '' Greatest Hits'' compilation album. The single became one of his best-known songs. In 2010, "Smoky Mountain Rain" became

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

's eighth

state song Forty-eight of the fifty U.S. states have one or more state songs, a type of regional anthem, which are selected by each state legislature as a symbol (or emblem) of that particular U.S. state. Some U.S. states have more than one official state ...

as a result of action by the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...

on June 3, 2010.Tom Humphrey
'Smoky Mountain Rain' Wins Race to Become 8th State Song
, KnoxNews website, June 3, 2010. In 2014, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine ranked "Smoky Mountain Rain" number 96 in their list of the 100 greatest country songs.

Content

The song is a first-person narrative of a man who has left

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and returned to

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

, due to "a change of dreams." He attempts to call a woman from a

phone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

, but learns that she is gone. Attempting to find her, he then gets a ride from a truck driver who is going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Although he "can't blame her for letting go," he vows to find her "no matter what it takes." Rain is mentioned in the opening verse, in the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, and three times in the chorus. Milsap liked the lyrics of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's "

Kentucky Rain "Kentucky Rain" is a 1970 song written by Eddie Rabbitt and Dick Heard and recorded by Elvis Presley. It was recorded at American Sound Studio and features then session pianist Ronnie Milsap. Other musicians on the record include Bobby Wood on p ...

" so much that "Smoky Mountain Rain" was written for him similarly, albeit with a slightly different flavor:

Charts

The song was Milsap's 16th number one hit on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine's Hot Country Singles chart where it stayed at the top for one week in December 1980. "Smoky Mountain Rain" also fared well as a crossover hit and was the first of his two number one hits on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart (the other being " Any Day Now"), as well as number 24 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

2019 version

In 2019 Milsap released a new version of the song featuring American singer-songwriter

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

(with additional lyrics written by Parton). It was produced by Milsap and Rob Galbraith and released on Milsap's 2019 album, ''The Duets''. It was sent to Country radio as the first single from the album on May 1, 2019 and Adult Contemporary radio on June 19.

Music video

An animated music video for the song was released on May 16, 2019. The video tells the story of a man who has come back to a woman that he has left only to find that she has moved on.

Charts

References

External links

Smoky Mountain Rain lyrics
via lyricsfreak.com
Ronnie Milsap : Smokey Mountain Rain
via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

1980 singles 1980 songs Music of East Tennessee Ronnie Milsap songs Songs written by Kye Fleming Songs written by Dennis Morgan (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Tom Collins (record producer) RCA Records singles Songs about Tennessee

Songs about weather {{1980-country-song-stub