 Because there are thirteen states in the United States which contain a Carroll County, the apparent specificity of the named location is offset by its ambiguity.According to an interview that Bob Ferguson gave to Steve Eng for his Porter Wagoner biography, "A Satisfied Mind," Ferguson wrote the song while driving from Nashville, Tennessee to a concert for Choctaw Indians in Philadelphia, Mississippi.He recounted that he passed a sign for Carroll County, Tennessee, which inspired the song's title, and by the time he saw a sign for Carroll County, Mississippi, the song was a finished work.