List of Tennessee State Symbols - State Songs

State Songs

In 2003, a resolution of the 103rd General Assembly designated songwriting as an official state art form. In keeping with this designation, Tennessee has nine official state songs:

• My Homeland, Tennessee, by Nell Grayson Taylor (words) and Roy Lamont Smith (music), was adopted as a state song by the General Assembly in 1925.
• When It's Iris Time in Tennessee, by Willa Waid Newman, was designated a state song in 1935, two years after the iris became the state flower.
• My Tennessee, by Frances Hannah Tranum, is the state's official public school song, adopted by the General Assembly in 1955.
• The Tennessee Waltz, by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King, was designated an official song of the state by the General Assembly in 1965.
• Rocky Top, by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, was adopted as an official song of Tennessee in 1982.
• Tennessee, by Vivian Rorie, was designated an official song in 1992.
• The Pride of Tennessee, by Fred Congdon, Thomas Vaughn and Carol Elliot, was designated an official song in 1996.
• Smoky Mountain Rain, a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan that became a hit for Ronnie Milsap, was added to the list of state songs by the General Assembly on June 3, 2010, giving the state its eighth state song. In the 2010 legislative session, the General Assembly also considered a resolution to designate So I'll Just Shine in Tennessee as a state song, but took no action on that proposal.
• Tennessee, written by John R. Bean of Knoxville, was designated an official state song in 2011.

Additionally, a rap song by Joan Hill Hanks of Signal Mountain, entitled A Tennessee Bicentennial Rap: 1796-1996, was designated the state's "Official Bicentennial Rap" song in 1996. It was written "to provide a fun and easy way for citizens and students to learn and retain some of state’s history."