[6] Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and their fellow Golden West Cowboys members were en route to Nashville "close to Christmas in 1946" when King and Stewart, who were riding in a truck carrying the group's equipment, heard Bill Monroe's new song "Kentucky Waltz" on the radio.
Almost a year passed before Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys were able to record "Tennessee Waltz".
[9] Acuff-Rose Music, the publisher, did not immediately register a copyright to the song when it was presented to the company by King and Stewart and did not obtain the "consummate proof of ownership, and the key to protecting a songwriter's property" until February 1948.
[9] Both singles became Top Ten C&W hits – the chart was then known as "Best Selling Folk Retail Records" – in the spring and summer of 1948 with respective peaks of No.
1 on December 30, 1950, with the Patti Page, Jo Stafford, Guy Lombardo and Les Paul/Mary Ford versions being given a single ranking; as such "Tennessee Waltz" remained No.
In 2024, the single was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant".
[9] The Fontane Sisters made their first solo recording cutting "Tennessee Waltz" in a November 1950 session at RCA Victor Studios in New York City; the track would reach the Top 20 in 1951.
[9] Spike Jones and his City Slickers recorded a parody featuring a duet with singers sporting Yiddish accents, and this version reached No.
63 while Cash Box assigned both versions a joint ranking on its Top 100 Singles chart with a peak position of No.
Cogan's version served as template for the arrangement of the 1974 Danish-language rendering "Den Gamle Tennessee Waltz" by Birthe Kjær which spent 17 weeks in the Top Ten of the Danish hit parade with a two-week tenure at No.
The arrangement of Cogan's version was also borrowed for remakes of "Tennessee Waltz" by Swedish singers Kikki Danielsson (Wizex (on the 1978 album Miss Decibel)[28]) and Lotta Engberg (on the 2000 album Vilken härlig dag)[29] and – with the German lyrics – by Heidi Brühl, Gitte, Renate Kern and Ireen Sheer.
[31] A French-language pop version of the song (as "Cette danse") was recorded by Canadian singer Renée Martel in 1965.
In 1967, Dobie Gray recorded "Tennessee Waltz" as the B-side of a non-charting version of "River Deep - Mountain High": both sides of the single were produced and arranged by Leon Russell.
49 R&B in 1968 with his deep soul rendition of "Tennessee Waltz" cut for producer Bobby Robinson's Fury Records.
In July 1971, Cymarron recorded "Tennessee Waltz" in the sessions for their self-titled album produced by Chips Moman at his American Sound Studio in Memphis.
Ultimate hipster Mose Allison featured a "cool jazz" version of the song on his album Middle Class White Boy (1982).
Norah Jones performed "Tennessee Waltz" as an encore during a live show at the House of Blues in New Orleans on August 24, 2002.
Other artists who have recorded "Tennessee Waltz" (with the parent album) include: LaVern Baker (Woke Up This Mornin' 1993), Pat Boone (I'll See You in My Dreams/ 1962), Eva Cassidy (Imagine/ 2002), Holly Cole (Don't Smoke in Bed 1993), Connie Francis (Country & Western Golden Hits/ 1959), Emmylou Harris (Cimarron 1981), Tom Jones backed by The Chieftains (Long Black Veil 1995), (1995), Pete Molinari (Today, Tomorrow and Forever 2009), Anne Murray (Let's Keep It That Way 1978), Elvis Presley, Billie Jo Spears (Country Girl 1981), Lenny Welch, Kitty Wells (Kitty's Choice/ 1960), Dottie West (Feminine Fancy/ 1968), Margaret Whiting (Margaret/ 1958),[34] Broadway's Kerry Conte and Mike Rosengarten (An Evening With... Vol.
Baylor University's Golden Wave Band plays the song at the end of each home game, a tradition possibly begun with a request from former head coach Grant Teaff.
The song was also used in an instrumental form in the final scenes of the film Primary Colors where Jack Stanton dances with his wife at his Inauguration Ball.
John Huston's 1979 Wise Blood, an adaptation of a Flannery O'Connor novel, uses an instrumental version during the opening montage and as a recurrent musical theme throughout the picture.
The song is also featured in the Schitt's Creek TV series, season 1 episode 12, "Surprise Party" and in the 1999 Japanese film Poppoya.
In season 2 episode 11, "Triangle" of the original TV series Dallas it is faintly heard being played during a cocktail party.