"The Lost Highway" was written by the blind country music singer-songwriter Leon Payne in 1948, when he was stranded hitchhiking from California to Texas. The iconic version was recorded by Hank Williams in 1949. It was observed in a 2004 biography that the combination of "perdition and misogyny" sounds like "pages torn from his diary." Although the lament seems to be about longing for salvation, it is notable that there is little actual mention of religion and none of Christianity. There have been dozens of covers (and the title has been appropriated for films, books, and a Bon Jovi song unrelated to the original).
This one didn't fit on the "One Woman Band" post:
This might be the definitive rendition:
And here is the trailer for the 2012 Cincinnati Playhouse production of "Hank Williams: Lost Highway"
Your first two musicians have something in common: both OD'd on painkillers they took for chronic back pain
Posted by: Fred Meinertshagen | May 29, 2022 at 09:47 PM