About The Song
Tennessee Volunteers and Alabama Crimson Tide”Dixieland Delight” is a song by American country music band Alabama. Inspired by a trip on U.S. Route 11W in Tennessee taken by songwriter Ronnie Rogers, it was written by Rogers and was released on January 28, 1983, by RCA Nashville Records as the lead single for Alabama’s seventh studio album, The Closer You Get….
“Dixieland Delight” drew commercial success, peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs list amongst the release of the album in April 1983. After its release, the song became a college football tradition within Southeastern Conference fanbases, most notably within the fanbase of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Songwriter Ronnie Rogers, who previously had hits with Ed Bruce, Dave Dudley, Tanya Tucker and others, recalled to country music journalist Tom Roland that the idea for “Dixieland Delight” came to him while driving on U.S. Route 11W, a rural highway through Grainger County, Tennessee. The song’s first line (“Rollin’ down a backwoods, Tennessee byway; one arm on the wheel”) soon led into an image of the main character’s other arm wrapped around his girlfriend and – with a long, hard work week at an end – envisioning a weekend of fun and relaxation with her.
When Alabama recorded the song in 1982 for The Closer You Get, it differed substantially from the acoustic demo cut by Rogers.
The song’s title refers to the girlfriend of the singer. Later in the song, Rogers conjures up images of various forest animals (e.g. a white-tailed buck deer and a red-tailed hawk) and how they bring peace to him, before returning to how the main character plans to become intimate with his girlfriend (“Home-grown country girl, gonna give me a whirl”) during their weekend outing, in a truck in a meadow.
The song picks up the tempo somewhat with a fiddle bridge before a reprisal of the refrain
A music video was filmed for the song, and was directed by David Hogan.[8] Production for the music video of “Dixieland Delight” took place in the area of Fort Payne, Alabama.
In April 1983, “Dixieland Delight” became Alabama’s ninth No. 1 song on Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Singles chart.
“Dixieland Delight” is one of the band Alabama’s most enduring singles, and is closely associated with 1980s country music as a whole. The song has been referenced by Brad Paisley in his 2011 single “Old Alabama”, by Midland in 2017’s “Make a Little”, Russell Dickerson’s 2017 hit “Every Little Thing”, Niko Moon 2020 hit “Good Time”, and the 2021 Walker Hayes song “Fancy Like”.The single edit is included in several of Alabama’s greatest hits collections, including For the Record. The full-length album version is included on the band’s second greatest hits album.
Video
Lyrics
Rolling down a backwoods Tennessee byway
One arm on the wheel
Holding my lover with the other
A sweet soft southern thrill
Worked hard all week
Got a little jingle
On a Tennessee Saturday night
Couldn’t feel better
I’m together with my dixieland delight
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Holdin’ her up tight
Make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason Dixon night
It’s my life
Oh so right
My dixieland delight
Whitetail buck deer munchin’ on clover
Red-tailed hawk sitting on a limb
Chubby ol’ groundhog
Croakin’ bullfrog
Free as a feeling in the wind
Home grown country girl
Gonna give me a whirl
On a Tennessee Saturday night
Lucky as a seven
Livin’ in Heaven
With my dixieland delight
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Holdin’ her up tight
Make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason Dixon night
It’s my life
Oh, so right
My dixieland delight
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Holdin’ her up tight
Make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason Dixon night
It’s my life
Oh, so right
My dixieland delight
Rolling down a backwoods Tennessee byway
One arm on the wheel