Before artists like Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt brought the party to Nashville, country music had a reputation for being depressing. For some songwriters, singing sad songs was a way to cope with grief and loss. For others, it was a way to show their authentic selves. Almost always, it is beautiful music.
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Consider this your trigger warning: We've compiled a list of some of the saddest songs in country music. Grab some Kleenex and get ready to shed some tears.
"Hurt" - Johnny Cash
The Man In Black's stripped-down cover of Nine Inch Nails' hit about drug abuse was moving when it was released in 2002. But the track and the video that accompanied it become even more poignant in hindsight. Cash would die a year later, making the song the perfect end to the troubadour's career and a life well lived. It's hard not to well up and pour one for Cash whenever it comes on.
"Concrete Angel" - Martina McBride
Coming out the same year as Cash's swan song, the main character in this powerful ballad is a little girl abused by her mother. Despite hiding her bruises with "linen and lace," her teachers never ask about her injuries or report them. By the end of the song, it's too late. The "fragile soul is caught in the hands of fate." Despite being forgotten by the world, the little girl finds the love she never found on Earth in the afterlife.
The song's powerful message still resonates decades later. Co-writer Rob Crosby told Rolling Stone, which voted the single as the "Saddest Country Song Of All Time" in 2019, that the "fact a few kids have seen the music video, which flashes the number for Child Help USA and have been able to escape a bad situation is a gratifying thing."
"Elephant" - Jason Isbell
The song's title refers to the large animal in the room, with the metaphorical pachyderm being cancer. It appears on Isbell's 2013 album 'Southeastern.' Although he claims the song is a work of fiction, Isbell's lyrics are as detailed and real as any story you've ever heard.
The song is just Isbell crooning over an acoustic guitar about how he and a group of drinking buddies never talk about the disease that the song's subject is dying from. Instead, he sings her songs while "she'd get high and sing along." It's only later that we realize that "she don't have a voice to sing with now." If you happen to be listening to "Elephant" right now, have some tissues close.
"Marie" - Townes Van Zandt
With his abrasive, world-weary vocals, Van Zandt writes an American tale that would make John Steinbeck weep. It's about a homeless couple trying to make ends meet. The narrator tries to get on his feet, but unemployment says he's "got no more checks" and he's "no one left to call."
Hopping from train to train, the narrator's companion, the Marie of the song's title, says that she's pregnant. He heads back to unemployment, where he's been told his file has been lost. The twist comes when he comes back to Marie. The narrator discovers she "didn't wake up this morning." She "rolled over and went to Heaven" with "my little boy safe inside."
"I Will Always Love You" - Dolly Parton
This article wouldn't be an accurate list of sad songs if we didn't include this touching ballad by Dolly Parton. Despite being a staple of high school proms and wedding receptions, Parton didn't write this as a love song. It was a goodbye to her friend and mentor, Porter Waggoner. She had been on his syndicated television show for seven years and wanted to strike out on her own. Waggoner called it the best thing she had written and insisted he produce the 1974 hit before she left him for good. After hearing how the song came to be, we're unsure whether these are happy tears or sad ones.
