About The Song
Kentucky by The Everly Brothers first showed up in December 1958 on their album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, released by Cadence Records. The brothers were riding high on rock ’n’ roll hits like “Bye Bye Love” and “Wake Up Little Susie,” yet they chose to step away from the charts for a moment and cut a spare, acoustic collection of traditional country and folk songs their father, Ike Everly, had taught them as boys. The project felt deeply personal, and “Kentucky” sat right in the middle of it as one of the standout tracks.
Karl Davis of the duo Karl & Harty wrote the song back in 1941 and recorded it with his partner that same year. It gained a bigger following after the Blue Sky Boys cut their version in 1947, and it became a quiet favorite among people who carried a soft spot for the Bluegrass State. The lyrics paint a simple, heartfelt picture of home—laurel trees, redbud blossoms, gentle hills, and the pull of a place you never really leave behind. For Don and Phil, it carried extra meaning. Their family had strong ties to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and singing about the state felt like closing a circle back to their roots.
They laid down the track during a handful of sessions in mid-August 1958, keeping everything stripped back so the focus stayed on those unmistakable close harmonies. The album itself never spun off any big singles, so “Kentucky” never appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 or country charts on its own. Instead, it lived as a deeper cut that fans discovered on the record and kept coming back to. Over time it earned a reputation as one of the purest expressions of the Everlys’ connection to where they came from.
A decade later, in 1968, the brothers brought the song back for their album Roots, giving it another turn that fit the more reflective mood they were exploring then. They also pulled it out live when they returned to Central City, Kentucky, in the 1980s, singing it with obvious warmth for the hometown that shaped their family. In 2013, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones recorded a full remake of Songs Our Daddy Taught Us called Foreverly. The project introduced “Kentucky” to a new generation and even landed on the Billboard 200, showing how the song still carried weight long after its first quiet release.
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Lyric
Kentucky
You are the dearest land outside of Heaven to me
Kentucky
I miss your laurel and your redbud trees
When I die
I want to rest upon a graceful mountain so high
For that is where God will look for me
Kentucky
I miss the old folks singing in the silvery moonlight
Kentucky
I miss the hound dogs chasing coons
I know that my mother, dad and sweetheart are waiting for me
Kentucky, I will be coming soon
Kentucky