Who composed the show's theme music?

Earle Hagen composed the theme music for The Andy Griffith Show.

Hagen created the instrumental theme in 1960 for the sitcom’s launch on CBS. Its relaxed melody, built around a whistled tune associated with Andy and Opie walking beside a fishing hole, became one of television’s most recognizable themes. Hagen also performed the familiar whistling heard in the opening.

The theme was later expanded for a 1961 Capitol Records album of music from the series. Actor Everett Sloane supplied lyrics for a vocal version, which Andy Griffith recorded under the title “The Fishin’ Hole.” The original television theme itself remained instrumental and is strongly identified with the show’s small-town, outdoorsy atmosphere.

Earle Hagen was a prolific television composer whose other themes included The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Spy, That Girl, and The Mod Squad. Some music credits also list Herbert W. Spencer as a co-composer through BMI, but Hagen is the standard and canonical answer to this quiz question. The theme’s whistle is often mistakenly attributed to professional whistler Fred Lowery.