"Boudleaux Bryant was named for a French solider in World War I," said Wilma Maples, who has run the Gatlinburg Inn since it opened its doors in 1937. Boudleaux and Felice, who was born Matilda Genevieve Scaluto, had a whirlwind love story.

"Felice was an elevator operator in Illinois when she was young," said Maples. "She met Boudleaux when he was playing in a band at her hotel. Three days later, they were married."

The couple were traveling songwriters, who had written songs for the Everly Brothers ("Wake Up Little Susie", "Bye, Bye Love"), Jim Reeves, Buddy Holly, and many other songwriters. They frequented the Gatlinburg Inn often, where Wilma and Rellie "Rel" Maples lived and ran the hotel.

"We were sitting in our living room and Boudleaux walked in, and we started a friendship with the Bryants," Maples said. "They stayed with us on and off for twenty years. In winter, we were closed, but we'd leave a set of keys for them and they'd come and go as they liked. They were really nice people, but so different though. Boudleaux was very easygoing, while Felice could be fiery."

Along the lobby wall of the Gatlinburg Inn, autographed photos stand out for all to see. Lady Bird Johnson stayed there. So did Dinah Shore, Andy Williams, Pete Maravich and James Cash Penney, founder of JCPenney department stores. However, one framed picture stands out. It's an autographed record cover that says the following...

"To Wilma and Rel,
Since this was written here in our favorite room, 388, we'd like for you to have this copy.
-Boudleaux and Felice"

The copy was of Rocky Top, a song that has given us 137 reasons why Tennessee fans have adopted it as their most beloved tune. How they wrote it was a story all its own.

"Boudleaux and Felice were here to write some songs for (Archie) Grandaddy Campbell," Maples said. "From what I know, Boudleaux was sitting on his couch, while Felice was pacing the floor. They had been trying to write songs all day and all night. Suddenly, Felice just threw her work on the floor and said she'd had enough. Boudleaux didn't want to stop though, so he started strumming his guitar as hard as he could and sang the first lines of a song that was in his head. They took turns writing the lines, and in ten minutes, they had created Rocky Top."

Although the hotel had been the setting for Rocky Top, Wilma and Rel Maples never heard the song until it had been released to the public.

"You just never encroached a guest's privacy," Maples said. "But we were awfully excited when the song did so well.'

Though the Bryants would eventually buy the nearby Rocky Top Village Inn, today guests from all over the world come to this old, but extremely charming hotel to see the room that created one of college football's most famous songs.

"We've had people from England and France, and all over Europe that have heard of Rocky Top," Maples said.

If you entered Room 388 today, a plaque proudly states the fact that Felice and Boudleaux Bryant created Rocky Top in 1967 in that very room.

"I miss them dearly," Maples said, "Wonderful people. I think about them when I hear the song being played."