Texas and Tennessee

Back in the old days
This music we call Country
Flowed out of the mountains
In the land of the Shawnee

Appalachian springs
From Virginia and Kentucky
Rolling down the Cumberland
To the Ohio Valley

And a wind rose in the western sky
Above the wide prairie
Where wild horses thundered
Driven by the Comanche

And it blew across the southern plains
Down to the Mississippi
Talking about Texas
And Tennessee

And the Carter Family came
To sing The Wandering Boy
Maybelle played her guitar
Like they'd never heard before

And Jimmie Rodgers yodeled
As blue as he could be
T for Texas
And Tennessee

Country people tuned in
On their AM radios
When Earnest Tubb and Acuff
Played the evening music shows

They lined up at The Opry
To hear Hank Williams sing
And cowboys filled the dancehalls
When the Playboys came to swing

Kitty Wells and Roger Miller
Patsy Cline and ol' Jim Reeves
They came from Texas
And Tennessee

Things will keep a-changing
But the spirit will live on
The truth it will be spoken
In a simple country song

Kristofferson and Johnny Cash
Ol' Waylon and Willie
Spirit of Texas
And Tennessee

And Guy and Townes and Emmylou
Steve Earle and Robert Keen
Talkin' about Texas
And Tennessee

And how 'bout ol' Ward Davis
Cody Jinks, Sunny Sweeney
Spirit of Texas
And Tennessee

A song for Texas
And Tennessee