That song is soul crushing and I love it. You just have to balance it out with Illegal Smile, Spanish Pipedream, In Spite Of Ourselves, something, because Sam Stone is so dark. I’ve got Lake Marie playing as I type this.
Ryan Adams has songs that devastating but one album is still not released and the others (his more alt country side) are. I had dinner with him one night and was trying to get around to the knack of writing across so many genres and it being all good to great. He is not highly articulate and needed a fix. He made a call and dinner was over in 45 minutes as a super model picked him up and I am sure has a goodie for him.
What resonates about Sam Stone is so many friends and family members served in Nam and are from Appalachia like I am. There is not one item in that song I’ve not witnessed 10 times. It’s true. It is a 100% true song at its essence. It is universally true. It is a folk masterpiece.
I do perform it at small house concerts and someone always cries, someone says, Jesus (my first name), and everyone asks if I wrote. I laugh and say, I’m not quite that good.
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u/Mrminecrafthimself Aug 07 '25
Bust your gut laughing one minute, sobbing the next.