Every state official song, Georgia on My Mind to Rocky Top

Every US state has an official song except one. Some states have two, some have eleven, and the songs range from Civil War era hymns to jazz standards, country hits and Broadway show tunes. Ray Charles sang Georgia's. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote Oklahoma's. John Denver wrote two of them. This guide covers all 50 states, the writers, the year of adoption, and the reason each song won the honor over hundreds of rejected proposals.

The complete list of state songs

Most states adopted an official song between 1911 and 1980, usually after a legislative campaign led by a local composer, a state historian or a governor's wife. A handful of states have added second and third songs since 2000, giving country hits and pop ballads equal status with older waltzes and marches.

State	Official song	Adopted
Alabama	Alabama	1931
Alaska	Alaska's Flag	1955
Arizona	Arizona March Song / Arizona (Rex Allen)	1919 / 1982
Arkansas	Arkansas (You Run Deep in Me), Oh, Arkansas, Arkansas, The Arkansas Traveler	1987
California	I Love You, California	1951 (official 1988)
Colorado	Where the Columbines Grow / Rocky Mountain High	1915 / 2007
Connecticut	Yankee Doodle	1978
Delaware	Our Delaware	1925
Florida	Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)	1935
Georgia	Georgia on My Mind	1979
Hawaii	Hawai'i Pono'i	1967
Idaho	Here We Have Idaho	1931
Illinois	Illinois	1925
Indiana	On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away	1913
Iowa	The Song of Iowa	1911
Kansas	Home on the Range	1947
Kentucky	My Old Kentucky Home	1928
Louisiana	Give Me Louisiana / You Are My Sunshine	1970 / 1977
Maine	State of Maine Song	1937
Maryland	Maryland, My Maryland (repealed 2021, no replacement)	1939 to 2021
Massachusetts	All Hail to Massachusetts	1966
Michigan	My Michigan (unofficial), Michigan, My Michigan	1937 (unofficial)
Minnesota	Hail! Minnesota	1945
Mississippi	Go, Mississippi	1962
Missouri	Missouri Waltz	1949
Montana	Montana / Montana Melody	1945 / 1983
Nebraska	Beautiful Nebraska	1967
Nevada	Home Means Nevada	1933
New Hampshire	Old New Hampshire	1949
New Jersey	None (only state without an official song)	—
New Mexico	O Fair New Mexico / Asi Es Nuevo Mejico	1917 / 1971
New York	I Love New York	1980
North Carolina	The Old North State	1927
North Dakota	North Dakota Hymn	1947
Ohio	Beautiful Ohio	1969
Oklahoma	Oklahoma!	1953
Oregon	Oregon, My Oregon	1927
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	1990
Rhode Island	Rhode Island's It for Me	1996
South Carolina	Carolina / South Carolina on My Mind	1911 / 1984
South Dakota	Hail, South Dakota	1943
Tennessee	Rocky Top, Tennessee Waltz, plus 9 others	1982 / 1965
Texas	Texas, Our Texas	1929
Utah	Utah, This Is the Place	2003
Vermont	These Green Mountains	2000
Virginia	Our Great Virginia	2015
Washington	Washington, My Home	1959
West Virginia	The West Virginia Hills, West Virginia My Home Sweet Home, Take Me Home, Country Roads	1963 / 2014
Wisconsin	On, Wisconsin!	1959
Wyoming	Wyoming	1955

The famous ones you already know

A handful of state songs escaped the state and became national standards. Most were hits long before any legislature adopted them, and their adoption was a formality that acknowledged what everyone was already singing.

• Georgia on My Mind (Georgia): Written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1930, recorded by Ray Charles in 1960, and made the official state song in 1979 after Charles performed it before the state legislature. The song won two Grammy Awards.
• Oklahoma! (Oklahoma): The title song of the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, adopted in 1953. It is the only Broadway show tune ever adopted as a state song.
• Rocky Top (Tennessee): Written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant in 1967, made famous by the Osborne Brothers and later by the University of Tennessee marching band. Adopted as one of Tennessee's official state songs in 1982.
• Take Me Home, Country Roads (West Virginia): John Denver's 1971 hit, adopted as an official state song in 2014, giving West Virginia four official songs.
• You Are My Sunshine (Louisiana): Recorded by Jimmie Davis, who later served two terms as Louisiana governor. Adopted as a state song in 1977.
• Home on the Range (Kansas): Originally an 1873 poem by Brewster Higley, set to music and adopted by Kansas in 1947. Also President Franklin Roosevelt's favorite song.
• Yankee Doodle (Connecticut): The Revolutionary War tune, adopted in 1978. Older than the state, older than the country.
• My Old Kentucky Home (Kentucky): Stephen Foster, 1853. Sung before the Kentucky Derby every year since 1930.

The state that has no song, and the state that has eleven

New Jersey is the only US state without an official song. The state legislature has proposed candidates since the 1970s, including Red Mascara's "I'm From New Jersey," which passed both chambers in 1972 but was ultimately not signed. Every proposal since has stalled, been vetoed, or been quietly withdrawn. Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" is periodically suggested, but Springsteen himself has never asked for it.

Tennessee has the opposite problem. Between 1925 and 2012, the legislature adopted eleven official state songs, more than any other state. The list includes "My Homeland, Tennessee" (1925), "When It's Iris Time in Tennessee" (1935), "My Tennessee" (1955), "Tennessee Waltz" (1965), "Rocky Top" (1982), "Tennessee" (1992), "The Pride of Tennessee" (1996), "A Tennessee Bicentennial Rap: 1796 to 1996" (adopted in 1996 and yes, the state has an official rap), "Smoky Mountain Rain" (2010), and two others adopted for the state's youth and bluegrass traditions.

The stories behind the writers

Most state songs share a pattern. A local composer or poet writes something in the 1910s or 1920s, a governor's wife or a state historian lobbies the legislature, and the song is adopted by joint resolution. A few of the writers went on to unusual second careers.

• Jimmie Davis (Louisiana): Country singer who recorded "You Are My Sunshine" in 1940, then won two terms as Louisiana governor, serving 1944 to 1948 and 1960 to 1964.
• Stephen Foster (Kentucky, Florida): The 19th-century songwriter behind "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)." Foster never visited either state.
• Hoagy Carmichael (Georgia): Wrote "Georgia on My Mind" in 1930 as a tribute to his sister Georgia, not the state. Georgia the state adopted it anyway.
• John Denver (West Virginia, Colorado): Two of his songs became state songs, "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Rocky Mountain High." Denver was born in New Mexico and grew up on Air Force bases.
• Steven and Marilyn Vail (Vermont): Composed "These Green Mountains" specifically for a 1999 state contest to replace the older "Hail, Vermont!" Vermont adopted it in 2000.
• Rex Allen Jr. (Arizona): Wrote a new song called simply "Arizona" that was adopted in 1982 as an alternate state anthem alongside the 1919 "Arizona March Song."

Recent adoptions and controversies

State songs are still being adopted, replaced and retired. The trend since 2000 has been to add pop and country hits alongside older marches, and in one case, to strike a song from the books entirely.

• Utah replaced its 1937 song "Utah, We Love Thee" with "Utah, This Is the Place" in 2003, referencing Brigham Young's 1847 arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.
• Colorado made John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" a second official state song in 2007, alongside the 1915 "Where the Columbines Grow."
• West Virginia added "Country Roads" to its list in 2014, joining "The West Virginia Hills" (adopted 1963) and two others.
• Virginia adopted "Our Great Virginia" in 2015, twenty years after retiring the 19th-century "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" for racist lyrics.
• Maryland repealed "Maryland, My Maryland" in 2021 because its Civil War lyrics called the Union "Northern scum" and Lincoln a "tyrant." The state has no replacement song yet.

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