Country music is all about storytelling, even if the songs happen to be incredibly sad. We picked four of the most heartbreaking songs in country music, sure to make even the most hardened person shed a tear.
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1. "Here Comes Goodbye" by Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts released "Here Comes Goodbye" in 2009, from their Unstoppable album. Written by Clint Lagerberg and Chris Sligh, the song is about a relationship that ends, long before one of the two is ready.
"I can hear the truck tires coming up the gravel road," the song begins. "And it's not like her to drive that slow / Nothing's on the radio / Footsteps on the front porch / I hear my doorbell / She usually comes right in / Now I can tell / Here comes goodbye."
"The demo was just a piano and a vocal," Joe Don Rooney recalls (via Songfacts). "I had always heard it like that, as well. I think Jay and our producer, Dann Huff, were like, 'Let's cut this thing with a big band. Let's make this thing as big as it can be.' I'm glad they had the idea because it's become this behemoth of a song. Once it's over, you're wringing yourself out. That's what we want. That's the big thing we want on the big side of songs we cut. We're just lucky to have that one. It's one of the first songs we put on hold for the project."
2. "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride
Stephanie Bentley and Rob Crosby penned "Concrete Angel," which was included on McBride's 2001 Greatest Hits record. Unlike a song about romantic heartbreak, "Concrete Angel" tells a harrowing tale of a young girl who is in a troubled home, which ends up costing her her life.
"A statue stands in a shaded place / An angel girl with an upturned face / A name is written on a polished rock / A broken heart that the world forgot," the song says in part. The song was so sad, McBride almost didn't record it.
"I hesitated to record it because I thought it might be too heavy," McBride reveals on Good Morning America. "But in the end I followed my gut, which was telling me I needed to do it. I think, in the end, it's a healing song for many."
3. "You're Gone" by Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio already had a long list of hits when they released "You're Gone" in 1998, from their Unbelievable album. Hit songwriters Jon Vezner and Paul Williams penned "You're Gone," about someone who tried to get their act together, but it was a little too late.
"And I bless the day I met you, and I thank God that he let you / Lay beside me for a moment that lives on / And the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together / And the bad news is you're gone," the tragic song says in part.
Even more sad, "You're Gone" is based on a true story.
"There was a young lady that said, 'I'm not going to be with you, because you're an alcoholic and addict. I don't want to watch you die,'" Williams recalls. "She wound up leaving, but I wound up getting sober. And that's really the content of that song. 'You're Gone' is related specifically to one of my own life events. "
4. "The Dance" by Garth Brooks
There aren't many songs that so eloquently describe regret as much as Garth Brooks' "The Dance" does. Out in 1990, the song is the final release from Brooks' eponymous debut album.
Tony Arata wrote "The Dance," which says in part, "I'm glad I didn't know / The way it all would end / The way it all would go / Our lives / Are better left to chance / I could have missed the pain / But I'd have had to miss / The dance."
"To a lot of people, I guess 'The Dance' is a love gone bad song," Brooks reflects (via Rolling Stone). "Which, you know, that it is. But to me, it's always been a song about life. Or maybe the loss of those people that have given the ultimate sacrifice for a dream that they believed in ... And if they could come back, I think they would say to us what the lyrics of 'The Dance' say."
