Music Spotlight on September 25, 2022: Bluegrass and Country Music Kickoff!

"This week at FPC, we will be kickin’ it back over half a century and showcase older gospel hymns in a bluegrass style! Songs like “I’ll Fly Away” and “Old Rugged Cross” are classics today and to kick off our “Gospel With A Country Twang” Sermon Series we are pulling out all the musical stops! All of our hymns will be played by our FPC Bluegrass/Gospel Band which consists of two guitars, a mandolin, a banjo, an upright bass, and a piano. Join us Sunday Morning to hear this extra special music and a surprise postlude!" - Allister Banasiak

Inspiration for the sermon this week comes from Hank Williams' famous song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." The song has come to epitomize the melancholy country music style, characterized by the nasal voice quality, an ensemble of rhythm guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, and upright bass, as well as introspective and woeful lyrics.

Recorded in 1949 and reflecting Hank’s tormented feelings toward Audrey Sheppard, his first wife, the song stands as the impossible standard that every country tear-jerker in its wake would like to meet. Only it doesn’t achieve its desired effect through someone reciting a long litany of personal problems. Instead Williams imbibes the world around him on a random evening and finds every sight and sound to be a reflection of his own misery....Where others might be charmed by birdsong, intrigued by a midnight train, and enchanted by a falling star, the narrator here only senses sorrow, anguish and desolation. [Source]

See the full lyrics here. For copyright reasons, we will not publish them.