"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Tennessee Homesick Blues" by Dolly Parton. Modest rise and fall. layered composition, overlapping color planes. Mood: intimate, melancholy. Visual style: 1980s editorial aesthetic, neon accents against moody ground. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
Tennessee Homesick Blues
Dolly Parton
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Soundtrack) (1982)
Easy, low-key calm, right in the middle of 19,209 measured songs — measures out best for focus.
90
BPM
Tennessee Homesick Blues by Dolly Parton is 90 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 45 BPM · Double-time 180 BPM · released 1982
Fan image for "Tennessee Homesick Blues"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Song DNA
Notes: A nostalgic tune that evokes longing for home.
Recommended for: deep listening emotional release
An easygoing, settled feel. It rises and falls a fair amount and never jolts you — a densely layered track with powerful vocals leading at an unhurried mid-tempo. Predictable and even, it’s easy to settle into and let run. Across the library, it sits more energetic than 22% of songs, calmer than the rest.
Cultural Context
Part of a soundtrack from a popular musical.
Listening Prompt
Reflect on your own connections to home.
What to Expect
Steady flow with emotional depth throughout.
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Hear it the way it was made
The right gear changes everything.
Moods: intimate, melancholy
At a glance
"Tennessee Homesick Blues" by Dolly Parton
90 BPM, dynamic range 5/10, layered texture, dynamic vocals. Sits in the middle band — neither built for stillness nor pitched at workout intensity. Whether it works for a given moment depends more on mood and lyrical content than on the acoustic profile. The full sensory breakdown follows.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 5/10 is within the normal pop-mix band. There is variation between verse and chorus, but it's the kind of variation most listeners encounter routinely.
Sudden changes: none. Transitions are musically signaled — nothing will surprise you if you're only half-listening.
Texture is layered — a full arrangement with clear separation between parts.
Predictability is high — the song telegraphs what it will do next. A sensory-sensitive listener can usually guess where it's going without close attention.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in Dolly Parton's catalog
We have 13 songs from Dolly Parton in the library. Of those, 12 are rated Safe, 1 Moderate, and 0 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 5/10 sits below the artist average of 5.8, making it the #13 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Soundtrack)
We have 2 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans safe in sensory profile.
- Here I Am — safe DR 6
1982 context
Released in 1982. We have 211 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.5/10. This track is quieter / less dynamic than the year average. Explore more from the 1980s.
Explore by mood and tradition
How fast is "Tennessee Homesick Blues"?
90 BPM — Medium (midtempo / pop ballad)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Warm-up, cool-down, yoga, stretching.
For daily life
Morning coffee, deep work, commute wind-down.
Browse more songs at 90 BPM.
When "Tennessee Homesick Blues" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
~
Focus / studying
Maybe — fine for routine work, but the mid-song changes may pull attention during deep focus.
✗
Running / workout
No — 90 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.
~
Sleep / winding down
Maybe — calm overall, but tempo is a bit high for deep sleep. Better for winding down than falling asleep.
✓
Driving / road trip
Yes — predictable enough for safe driving attention, interesting enough to stay engaged.
✓
Cooking / dinner background
Yes — sits in the background without demanding attention.
✓
Emotional release / catharsis
Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
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Why this rating
We rate this song Safe because its dynamic range stays within our low-variance band, there are no unsignaled changes, and the texture and vocal style are both in the low-fatigue range. Our methodology uses an AND rule for Safe — a song has to clear every dimension to earn the rating.
This song in the Music Studio
34/100 intensity
See how “Tennessee Homesick Blues” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Spotify and YouTube links go direct to the track when we have the ID; otherwise they search for it. Embed this sensory profile on your site →
Rating last reviewed: 2026-04-05. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
On our 19k-song scale this lands in the middle band — more energetic than 22% of songs, calmer than the other 78%. Its intensity reading of 34/100 comes from a dynamic range of 5/10, layered texture, no sudden shifts, and dynamic vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is an unusually steady, even volume: more extreme on that axis than 88% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on full chaos — sudden changes, huge quiet-to-loud swings, and relentless energy — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
We Will Rock You — Queen · 98%Mas Que Nada — Jorge Ben · 98%Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing — Marvin Gaye · 95%Brass Monkey — Beastie Boys · 95%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep6/10
Focus10/10
Workout2/10
Dinner7/10
Party / hype2/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1982 in context
The 211 songs we’ve measured from 1982 average a dynamic range of 6.5/10. At 5/10, this track is gentler and steadier than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity34
Dynamics44
Tempo28
Surprise0
Density33
Predictability0
Vocal force75
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Tennessee Homesick Blues"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Tennessee Homesick Blues" by Dolly Parton?
"Tennessee Homesick Blues" by Dolly Parton has a tempo of 90 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 45 BPM, and at double-time 180 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Tennessee Homesick Blues" by Dolly Parton?
"Tennessee Homesick Blues" by Dolly Parton rates as Low-Intensity. Dynamic range 5/10, no sudden changes, layered texture. Our Low-Intensity rating means no single dimension triggers the higher-intensity thresholds.
How loud is "Tennessee Homesick Blues" — what is its dynamic range?
"Tennessee Homesick Blues" has a dynamic range of 5/10. Within normal pop-mix variation. Movement between verse and chorus but nothing dramatic.
Does "Tennessee Homesick Blues" have sudden or surprising changes?
No. "Tennessee Homesick Blues" has no sudden unsignaled changes. Every transition is musically telegraphed.
What is "Tennessee Homesick Blues" best for?
In our library "Tennessee Homesick Blues" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Tennessee Homesick Blues" released?
"Tennessee Homesick Blues" is from 1982, on the album "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Soundtrack)". It appears in our 1980s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Tennessee Homesick Blues"?
We tag "Tennessee Homesick Blues" as intimate, melancholy. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Tennessee Homesick Blues"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "Tennessee Homesick Blues" good for running?
Not really — at 90 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Tennessee Homesick Blues" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (5/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Tennessee Homesick Blues" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Dynamic range is too high — quiet moments will be ambushed by louder ones.
Should I listen to "Tennessee Homesick Blues"?
If you want gentle, low-arousal music, "Tennessee Homesick Blues" is a solid pick — Low-Intensity across every sensory dimension.
Songs with the same DNA
layered texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
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Where to next?
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