The Steel Guitar Forum

Would anyone have E9 tabs Tennessee Whiskey in A?

Ted,
I have "Tennessee Whiskey" but it's in F.
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:Ted,
I have "Tennessee Whiskey" but it's in F.
Erv

Ha.... I know Erv.... i bought it from you a couple of months ago....
That's the George Jones version and i would like the Chris Stapleton version...
I didn't realise there was different versions in different keys.

Ted

Ted,
I hope you find the one you're looking for.
Erv

Ted; there is NO steel guitar in Chris Stapleton version and he changed the original melody of the song; to some blues sounding melody; that is NOT the song.
So it's not possible to tab that horrible version of a great classic song.
Ricky

Ricky Davis wrote:Ted; there is NO steel guitar in Chris Stapleton version and he changed the original melody of the song; to some blues sounding melody; that is NOT the song.
So it's not possible to tab that horrible version of a great classic song.
Ricky

Your right...
I'm sticking with old George in F....

Ted

Ted,
And you've got my tab in F.
You're all set.
Erv

Erv Niehaus wrote:Ted,
And you've got my tab in F.
You're all set.
Erv

Yes sir I do...

Thanks Erv...

Ted

Your right...
I'm sticking with old George in F

Awesome, continue on

I have to play this Stapleton version in a group of my buds. I hate it. It's all I can do to keep from blowing a gasket and sometimes have to check myself from going to the chord progression. Many times, I use this as an opportunity to take a bathroom break.

I like some of Chris' stuff, but this one is just a bore to cover. Just needs a bar stool and a flat top, cafe style. No need or place for a band.

Why anyone would choose this over the real song is beyond me.

Anyway, you probably don't need any tab for this. It's just A runs to Bm runs over and over 'til we die.

lol.... my thoughts exactly....

Ted

Ricky Davis wrote:Ted; there is NO steel guitar in Chris Stapleton version and he changed the original melody of the song; to some blues sounding melody; that is NOT the song.
So it's not possible to tab that horrible version of a great classic song.
Ricky

"Horrible"Thats no Shit! Hate it when young, and dumb think its Chris's song! Or worse when I have to play it!!!!!!!! All two chords!!

Yeah Dirk; and speaking of who's song it is; well Dean Dillion wrote it for David Allen Coe 1981. It was pitched to George Strait and he turned it down and George Jones loved it and recorded it in 1983-ish; and then Chris did what ever he felt he needed to do with the song recorded; and so therefore when it comes down to it; The Writer/Copywriters(also Linda Hargrove) are the ones that get paid per song and so they let who ever cut it however they want; they still get paid; no matter how its recorded; they sign the paper they let it go.
ALL ABOUT MONEY.
Ricky

Ricky Davis wrote:Yeah Dirk; and speaking of who's song it is; well Dean Dillion wrote it for David Allen Coe 1981. It was pitched to George Strait and he turned it down and George Jones loved it and recorded it in 1983-ish; and then Chris did what ever he felt he needed to do with the song recorded; and so therefore when it comes down to it; The Writer/Copywriters(also Linda Hargrove) are the ones that get paid per song and so they let who ever cut it however they want; they still get paid; no matter how its recorded; they sign the paper they let it go.
ALL ABOUT MONEY.
Ricky

Nice history!!I would rather be forced to watch Cyndi Lauper sing at Jacks Chicken Shack than have to listen to it

Guess I was a little too critical. If they call the song and throw me a solo, I just play triplets starting at A pedals down at the fret 0, then slide to fret 5 open, and 8AF, 12 AB which gets us to Bm...pedal A at fret 10...back to 12 AB.

Other times, I just try to be creative and use the experience for coming up with new and/or different things.

Might as well try to do something melodic, if, after all we're stuck with it.
Doesn't mean I like it, but I have to play things all the time of which I'm not particularly fond.

I still don't get everybody's fascination with this version though.

Jerry Overstreet wrote:Guess I was a little too critical. If they call the song and throw me a solo, I just play triplets starting at A pedals down at the fret 0, then slide to fret 5 open, and 8AF, 12 AB which gets us to Bm...pedal A at fret 10...back to 12 AB.

Other times, I just try to be creative and use the experience for coming up with new and/or different things.

Might as well try to do something melodic, if, after all we're stuck with it.
Doesn't mean I like it, but I have to play things all the time of which I'm not particularly fond.

I still don't get everybody's fascination with this version though.

There is a trend as of lately. "Dumb it all down as much as possible!" Did both versions back to back with my six string guitar as a experiment, and was blow away with such a differences in melody phrasing.( i am no singer)


Winnie the pooh vs Shakespeare!

Oh absolutely. I'm with you. No comparison. I was just saying if I have to do it, maybe grit my teeth and find a way to make it more palatable suffering through it.

I can bail when we're just jamming but playing a show it's a little harder to do.

Jerry Overstreet wrote:Oh absolutely. I'm with you. No comparison. I was just saying if I have to do it, maybe grit my teeth and find a way to make it more palatable suffering through it.

I can bail when we're just jamming but playing a show it's a little harder to do.

Its similar to being at a live rodeo when barrel racers starts. Stampede to beer stand, or bathroom!!

I totally get why some posters here prefer the original “country” version of “Tennessee Whiskey”; I love a good honky-tonk shuffle myself.

However, when our lead vocalist told us several months ago that he was going to sing the Chris Stapleton version, I gave it a listen—and liked it. Stapleton had re-imagined the groove as slow R&B. He changed the chord progression from 1, 4, 5 to 1, 2m, and altered the melody as well to be more bluesy.

I was completely amazed at the reception we got…
● We often get requests for the song, even from audiences who aren’t aware that we know it!
● People fill the dance floor!
● Big round of applause every time we play it!

I looked up “Tennessee Whiskey” on Wikipedia, and learned that George Jones' version reached number two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in November 1983, and he usually included it in his live performances.

In 2015, after performing it at the CMA Awards, Stapleton’s version reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, and in 2019 was certified 6× Platinum for 6 million units sold in combined streams and sales.
I’m sure the song’s composers, Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, were delighted with the additional royalty checks they received from Stapleton’s re-imagined version!


Here’s the Big Question…
Isn’t entertaining the audience what it’s all about?

- Dave

IT IS DISRESPECTFUL to "re-imagine" a Song. It was written for David Allan Coe. Then two years later George Jones cut it. If you take all instruments out of the song and just listen to the Melody and Chord Progression of the song; David and George followed the original feel of how it was written and sang. Then Chris cut it; and take away all instruments and listen to his melody and chord progression and it DOES NOT follow the original Feel and melody of the song how it was written.
DISRESPECTFUL!!!! that's like saying: "I HATE the way it was originally written and sang"....>Well go write your own song of how you want to sing and be heard; but don't destroy someone ELSES song. So doesn't matter it being a shuffle; or swing or waltz or rock...a real song comes down to the story the songwriter wrote about with his feeling of the story through his melody and musical progression for feel.
Yes the world has become about the "MONEY" and no longer about the "MUSIC"; but don't confuse the two.
Ricky

Ricky Davis wrote:IT IS DISRESPECTFUL to "re-imagine" a Song. It was written for David Allan Coe. Then two years later George Jones cut it. If you take all instruments out of the song and just listen to the Melody and Chord Progression of the song; David and George followed the original feel of how it was written and sang. Then Chris cut it; and take away all instruments and listen to his melody and chord progression and it DOES NOT follow the original Feel and melody of the song how it was written.
DISRESPECTFUL!!!! that's like saying: "I HATE the way it was originally written and sang"....>Well go write your own song of how you want to sing and be heard; but don't destroy someone ELSES song. So doesn't matter it being a shuffle; or swing or waltz or rock...a real song comes down to the story the songwriter wrote about with his feeling of the story through his melody and musical progression for feel.
Yes the world has become about the "MONEY" and no longer about the "MUSIC"; but don't confuse the two.
Ricky

Next they will take "Folsom Prison" and make a rap song out of it?

Ricky,
I agree with you completely!
Erv

Thanks Erv. Main thing that bothers me now, is I have become a Producer of CD's for folks in the last 15 years and I take a LOT of pride in recording great Music that comes from every part of the Passion from the writers of songs, that means the WORLD to them. And when I hear music that does NOT care at all about that passion; It just kills me to hear it. THERE IS TOO MUCH OF IT ALREADY.....
Ricky

Hmmm. Chris Stapleton didn’t even come up something original when he adapted the song. Melodically, his version sounds like the great Etta James’ song, “I’d Rather Go Blind”. He should have just sung that song. Check it out.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u9sq3ME0J ... dvIGJsaW5k

Keep on pickin’!
Glenn

Ricky Davis wrote:Thanks Erv. Main thing that bothers me now, is I have become a Producer of CD's for folks in the last 15 years and I take a LOT of pride in recording great Music that comes from every part of the Passion from the writers of songs, that means the WORLD to them. And when I hear music that does NOT care at all about that passion; It just kills me to hear it. THERE IS TOO MUCH OF IT ALREADY.....
Ricky

Ricky, I completely respect and appreciate your dedication to the honky-tonk music tradition.
You seem concerned about what the composers of “Tennessee Whiskey” thought about Chris Stapleton’s version of their song, and I got to wondering what Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove thought about it.

Here’s what Dean Dillon said about it in a 2017 article…
“I pitched it first to [George] Strait, but he turned it down. I pitched it to [George] Jones and he had a number [two] with it. David Allan Coe cut it, and Brad Paisley cut it, and then a couple years ago Chris Stapleton was messing around with it during rehearsals and started playing it the way he plays it, and it had a whole new life of its own. I was blown away when I heard Stapleton’s version. I had written with Stapleton and I knew what kind of throat he had, and the first time I heard him sing it, I thought, ‘Man, that’s got some big ol’ legs on it.’”
https://www.thecountrydaily.com/2017/04 ... cumentary/

It doesn't seem to me that Dean Dillon had any problems with Stapleton’s version. I’m sure he didn’t mind getting those additional royalty checks, either.

I hope that Dean Dillon's comments ease your mind somewhat.

- Dave