Writer's Room - August 2026

Blue(Grass) Ribbon Dog Songs

Congratulate yourself on making it this deep into summertime. We’ve almost reached the tail end of Dog Days—July 3 to August 11.

But it seems to me our four-legged friends deserve more than our taking their names in vain for some of the muggiest days of the season.

When they named this stretch of the calendar, the ancient Romans had mapped the path of Sirius, the bright “Dog Star.” Because it aligns with the summer sun, that star was thought to add extra heat that makes these days sweltering.

Science has long since shifted blame to the tilt of the earth’s axis, so it’s time to apologize to our canine companions. What better way to give dogs their due than a Bluegrass celebration of tunes they’ve inspired.

There are more than 300 recognized dog breeds—and more muddled mutt bloodlines than we can count. Those numbers might be rivaled by the many songs that feature dogs as main characters, rural scene setters, and tail-wagging metaphors.

Attempting to choose the “best” dog song would be as impossible as trying to declare a single “top dog.” But here are a few blue-ribbon contenders and shaggy dog pretenders.

On the Prowl 

The Osborne Brothers often got the pick of the litter from songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The team behind the success of “Rocky Top” and other hits scored again with the tale of the “Tennessee Hound Dog.”

The Bryants wrote of an old hound who “looks like skin on a bone pile” and whose “ears hang down to his knees.” He’s even scorned by the pack as “an old-age home for fleas.”

But that hound still can get “a certain kind of look on his face” . . . and “when he takes a notion, all the girl dogs know/He’s a dynamite, uptight, outa sight backyard Romeo.” The driving melody and high harmonies of Bobby and Sonny Osborne really sold this song, and the Grascals’ recent revival has kept it a fan favorite. 

“Old Rattler” was another senior dog who didn’t let his infirmities get in the way. He might have been “as blind as he could be/But every night at suppertime, I believed that dog could see.”

Rattler was a friend to all, walking “paw in paw” with his raccoon buddies instead of treeing them. A signature tune for Grandpa Jones, the song also was recorded by the Stanley Brothers and Stringbean.

Jay Armsworthy and Eastern Tradition tell the story of another dog whose main interest isn’t hunting. “Billy the Bluegrass Beagle,” loves Bill Monroe’s music and howls his approval whenever his master picks up a guitar.

On the Trail

Other dogs are famous for keeping their minds and noses on the trail. “Old Dog Blue” helps his master by treeing possums in persimmon trees. The singer vows that “When I get to Heaven, first thing I’ll do/I’ll grab my horn and call for Blue.” The Dillards and Norman Blake are among many Bluegrass and folk artists who have great versions of this traditional tune.

Before his preacher comes for Sunday dinner, “King of Bluegrass” Jimmy Martin needs help tracking down a main course. “Run, Pete, Run” is the command to his faithful dog, who does his part by treeing a 25-pound raccoon.  As a reward, the dog gets to “harmonize” on the record and appear on the “Me ‘N Ole Pete” album cover.

Martin continued to brag on his hunting companion in “Pete, the Best Coon Dog in the State of Tennessee.” Tom T. Hall wrote this song, which is not to be confused with another Hall creation—“The Fastest Rabbit Dog in Carter County.”

In “Chattanooga Dog,” yet another Martin/Hall number, the singer compares his pursuit of a lady to a hound endlessly chasing a fairground kiddy train. Of course, Tom T. is best known in dog song circles for writing “three things in this world that’s worth a solitary dime . . . Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine.”

Dogs also can serve as “supporting actors” that quickly relate a song’s rural setting. For “Appalachian Blue,” a hit for Kristy Cox, co-writers Jerry Salley, Karen Bowles, Bobby Johnston and I set the scene with “A bluetick hound that’s howlin’ underneath an old blue moon/And the lonesome notes that linger from a Bluegrass fiddle tune.”

“Love Me Like My Dog” 

Another song from Tom T. and Dixie Hall is more of a shaggy dog story. The singer comes home to find that his wife has left him and taken the car and his dog. He declares:  “I Want My Dog Back . . . If he gets out, he’ll come back home/He knows that I’ll be blue/The only thing that worries me/Is she might come back too.”  The Spinney Brothers have a classic recording of this tune.

Bluegrass dogs generally are less critical than a singer’s significant other.  Darren Nicholson makes that case in a song written by Harley Allen and Scotty Emerick:  “He never says I need a new attitude/Him and my sister ain't always in a feud/When I leave the seat up, he don't think that it's rude/I want you to Love Me Like My Dog . . .” 

“My Dog Thinks I’m Elvis” is another tribute to canine good judgment. The song was recorded by Ray Herndon, a co-writer with Jimbeau Hinson and Jon Michaels.

The original is more Blue Suede Shoes than Bluegrass, but these lyrics might inspire a grassy cover: “In his eyes I am the King/I think he’d crawl to Memphis if he thought I called his name/He looks up at my face like it’s painted on velvet/He ain’t nothing but a hound dog/But he thinks I’m Elvis.”

“Their Only Fault, Really”

Anyone who’s known the love and companionship of a dog can appreciate this comment from American writer Agnes Sligh Turnbull:  "Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really."

Many Bluegrass and Country singers have shared that sentiment in tributes to their childhood pets or rescue dogs that became part of the family. For more than 90 years, the standard in sad dog songs has been “Old Shep.” 

Red Foley’s tale of a young man saying goodbye to his old dog has brought tears to generations of listeners. Mac Wiseman may have the best-known Bluegrass version. Artists who have covered the song include Elvis Presley, who first sang it at age 10 in a talent show.

Another “circle of life” song is Dolly Parton’s story of “Cracker Jack,” the childhood dog who was “everything a kid could want.” In Mo Pitney’s “It’s Just A Dog,” the singer tries not to show emotion when his rescue dog passes. But his memories tell a different story:  “Just an old mutt ridin’ shotgun/Gettin’ my seats all muddy/Just the one who I came home to/Just my best fishin’ buddy.” 

In “God and a Dog,” Jerry Salley asks listeners, “Don’t call me crazy for comparing the two.” But when it comes to unconditional love, he says, “They find good in me even when I can’t/All part of a bigger plan/Loving me just the way I am/God and a dog.”