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Felice Bryant (born August 7, 1925 - died April
22, 2003) and Boudleaux Bryant (born February 13,
1920 - died June 25, 1987) were an United
States|American wife and husband country music
songwriting team who were also at the forefront of
the evolution of pop music.


He was born Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant in
Shellman, Georgia and was trained as a classical
music|classical violinist. During the 1937-38
season he performed with the Atlanta,
Georgia|Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra but had
more interest in country fiddling and joined a
western music band. In 1945 he met Matilda
Genevieve Scaduto while performing at a hotel in
her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and their
meeting resulted in a marriage of two future Hall
of Fame songwriters.

Felice, as Matilda Genevieve Scaduto's husband
affectionately called her, came from an
Italy|Italian family of music lovers and although
she had done some singing, she was a poet at heart
with a natural gift for writing songs that
combined with her husband's music expertise, led
to them becoming one of the most successful
writing teams in modern music.

During the first years of their marriage, the
Bryants struggled to make a living and, living in
a mobile home, Felice passed some of her spare
time writing songs, eventually accumulating a
collection of upwards of eighty tunes. They
solicited a number of country music artists in an
attempt to sell their compositions but were either
ignored or politely rejected until singer Little
Jimmy Dickens recorded "Country Boy". The song
went to No. 7 on the 1948 country charts but more
importantly, its success opened the door to a
working relationship with Fred Rose
(musician)|Fred Rose at Acuff-Rose Music in
Nashville, Tennessee. In 1950, the Bryants moved
to Nashville to work full time at song writing. 

The Bryants wrote more songs for Little Jimmy
Dickens as well as for popular country artist Carl
Smith and at the same time released four 45 Rpm
single (music)|singles of their own that net with
modest success. In 1957 the Bryants came to
national prominence in both country music and pop
music when they wrote a string of hugely
successful songs for the Everly Brothers followed
by successes for others such as Roy Orbison and
Buddy Holly. Their prolific and quality
compositions would produce hit records for many
stars from a variety of musical genres including
Tony Bennett, Sonny James, Eddy Arnold,  Charley
Pride, Nazareth (band)| Nazareth, Jim Reeves, Leo
Sayer, Simon and Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughan,
Grateful Dead, Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean
Martin, Ray Charles and others.

The Bryants eventually moved to a home not far
from Nashville on Old Hickory Lake in
Hendersonville, Tennessee near friends Roy Orbison
and Johnny Cash. In 1978, they moved to
Gatlinburg, Tennessee where they purchased the
"Rocky Top Village Inn" in the Great Smoky
Mountains. In 1979 they released their own album
called  A Touch of Bryant. Of their more than
1,500 recorded songs, "Rocky Top" was adopted as
the State song of Tennessee in 1982 and the fight
song for the University of Tennessee sports teams.

During their distinguished career, Felice and
Boudleaux Bryant earned a total of 59 BMI Country,
Pop, and R&B music awards. In 1972 they were
inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of
Fame, in 1986 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
and in 1991, the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Boudleaux Bryant passed away in 1987. Felice
Bryant remained active writing songs and in 1991
the Nashville Arts Foundation honored her with
their "Living Legend Award." She passed away in
2003. They are interred together in the Woodlawn
Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.