Redd Stewart, 80; Country Singer Wrote the Lyrics for 'Tennessee Waltz'

I was dancin' with my darlin' to the Tennessee Waltz

When an old friend I happened to see

I introduced her to my loved one

And while they were dancin'

My friend stole my sweetheart from me.

-- "Tennessee Waltz," 1948

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Redd Stewart, country music singer, fiddler, banjo player and guitarist who wrote the lyrics for "Tennessee Waltz" on a matchbox cover, has died. He was said to be 80, although several sources list his birth date as in May of 1921.

Stewart died Saturday in a St. Matthews, Ky., hospital of complications from head injuries suffered in a fall at his Louisville home a few years ago.

The singer and fiddler with Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys was riding with his boss in 1946 when they heard Bill Monroe's "Kentucky Waltz" on the radio. It was too bad, they agreed, that Tennessee -- where they had worked for several years on the Grand Ole Opry -- lacked a similar anthem.

Stewart tore apart a matchbox and started scribbling lyrics, fitting them to King's melody that he had called "No Name Waltz." They recorded the song in 1948, as did the Cowboy Copas and Roy Acuff.

But it was Patti Page's 1950 recording that waltzed the song to No. 1 on the pop chart and the Top 3 on the country chart. Her version initially sold more than 3 million records and has since sold several million more copies.

In 1965, then Tennessee Gov. Frank Clement had "Tennessee Waltz" declared the state's fourth official song.

"We should have kept the matchbox cover, but who thinks of those things," King told Associated Press in 1987. He died in 2000 at the age of 86.

Stewart and King, sometimes in collaboration with Chilton Price, also wrote the hits "Bonaparte's Retreat," which launched Kay Starr and was later recorded by Carl Smith and Glen Campbell; "Slow Poke," which King took to No. 1 on the pop chart; and "You Belong to Me," most famously recorded by Jo Stafford.

Stewart was inducted as a charter member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, although unlike King, he was never added to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Born Henry Ellis Stewart in Ashland City, Tenn., he grew up in Louisville and began playing banjo, piano and guitar while in school. He dropped out after seventh grade to play in local bands and changed his first name to "Redd" because of his red hair and freckles.