Among the less jarring opinions of Tennessee's fire-breathing Parson Brownlow, editor, governor, and Rebel "ventilator," was that the state would "ever be plagued with fleas and fiddlers, singers of morose songs, and the depredations of Old Scratch." Though he clearly disapproved of it, the sour parson was right: Tennessee's favorite music is tenacious. It came in folk form with the first settlers and continues to the present in a variety of styles and contexts from country taverns to Nashville recording studios. An historical example illustrates the linkage from the earliest folk styles to the country music of today.