Graycie York might just love sad country songs more than I do… and that’s saying a lot.
There’s just nothin’ like a good old fashioned honky tonk heartbreaker, and if you follow Whiskey Riff in any capacity, then you know how much all of us here love a good old fashioned, sad country song.
And since some of my favorite artists in the genre right now, like Miranda, have written some of my very favorite sad songs that hurt so good, I wanted to know what some of their favorite’s were that inspired them to write soul-crushing music just like George, Willie, Merle, Waylon and all the other country greats.
So far for this new Sad Country Songs series, we’ve heard some great picks from Whiskey Myers frontman Cody Cannon, Wade Bowen, the corn queen Hailey Whitters, the one and only Miranda Lambert, and today, Graycie is giving us her favorite sad country song.
She’s an up-and-comer in the Texas scene, and recently put out a great acoustic EP called Sad Bird. She’s opened for some of the hottest names in Texas right now, too, like Pecos and the Rooftops and Kolby Cooper, just to name a couple.
Much like Miranda, Graycie recalls the very first song that ever made her cry, and it was none other than the soul-crushing “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones:
“I feel like I remember the first one that made me cry, but I also don’t wanna be wrong, and I’m pretty sure it was ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’ By George Jones.
And I remember just, like, being in the kitchen just crying to that song, and I wasn’t even that old. And my dad was just laughing at me, he was like, ‘Yeah, this is like the saddest song ever.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it is!'”
But the one and only Patsy Cline is one of Graycie’s biggest musical inspriations, so of course, she had to go with Patsy’s #1 hit “She’s Got You”:
“My main pick is gonna be Patsy Cline, just because that’s my lady. Her music is, man, I don’t know, it’s just something I can’t even explain how it makes me feel.
The first time I heard her sang was a life changing moment for me. And I’m pretty sure the song that I heard was ‘She’s Got You.’ Just gut-wrenching.”
Written by Hank Cochran, Patsy released the song as a single in 1962 as a follow up to her hits “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy”. It shot to #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot C&W Sides chart, and was later included on the tracklist for her Sentimentally Yours album.
Loretta Lynn also released a famous version of the song in 1977 for her tribute album I Remember Patsy, which became a big hit and peaked at #1 on the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart later that year.
Graycie also has a few other suggestions for some of her favorite, sad Patsy Cline songs:
“That one and ‘Leavin’ On Your Mind.’ There’s just so many… ‘Crazy.’ Even ‘Crazy,’ with that being written by Willie and sung by her.
All of her songs are so gut-wrenching, especially ‘She’s Got You.’ Obviously she’s still in love with the person she’s in love with, but can’t have him anymore because they’re already in love with someone new.
And that’s just like, oh man, it hits you right in the gut. She just has so many songs for me that I’m like, dang, I really wish I could’ve written that song, because I feel all of those lyrics.”
If all of that doesn’t make for a great, tear-jerking country song, then I don’t know what does.
And coupled with Patsy’s incredibly rich and one-of-a-kind voice? It’s pretty much perfection.
Turn this one up if you need a good cry today:
And when it comes to picking my favorite sad country song of Graycie’s, I think the obvious choice here is “Patsy Kind of Night.”
She wrote it back in April of 2019, and released it as her very first single in 2020. A breakup song with several references to different Patsy tunes, I don’t think it could be any more fitting for this category.
Stay tuned for more from the Texas native, too, because she’s uber talented and well on her way to becoming a mainstay in the Texas/Red Dirt music scene.
Make sure you give this one a spin, and check out all of Graycie’s great music if you aren’t familiar with her yet.
“Patsy Kind of Night”
