|
Style: Classic country honky-tonk; compare to Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, George Jones
Top tracks: "The Love That Faded," "I Hope You Shed a Million Tears," "The Sermon on the Mount"
When Hank Williams died in 1953, he left behind a briefcase of song lyrics without accompanying melodies. Bob Dylan eventually bought them and farmed them out to a Who's Who of contemporary musicians—including Norah Jones, Jack White, Lucinda Williams, Merle Haggard, and Sheryl Crow—who wrote a dozen new songs in the classic Williams honky-tonk style. Dylan's "The Love That Faded" is a rueful highlight. Haggard's "The Sermon on the Mount" is a straightforward country hymn, while Vince Gill's and Rodney Crowell's "I Hope You Shed a Million Tears" ("The Bible says forgive you, but that's something I can't do") illustrates the conflicted flip side of the hellraiser who couldn't stop thinking about heaven.
Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
Read These Next
- TrendingAmerican Christians Should Stand with Israel under AttackWhile we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
- From the MagazineEmpty Streets to the Empty GraveWhile reporting in Israel, photographer Michael Winters captures an unusually vacant experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
- Editor's PickShoes Stay On for Maundy ThursdayFew Protestant traditions continue the footwashing that Jesus did at the Last Supper. Some want a revival of the practice.