Tennessee's quarter is all about music.  It has three stars that stand for the state's three areas, and three musical instruments for the state's three most popular kinds of music.

A fiddle stands for the bluegrass music of the mountains of east Tennessee.  A guitar stands for the country music of central Tennessee, where Nashville is.  A trumpet stands for the blues of west Tennessee and the city of Memphis.

People from all over Tennessee entered a contest to design the coin.  After Mint artists developed designs from ideas that came from people who live in the state, Governor Don Sundquist chose "Musical Heritage" as the final design for the state's quarter.