Haunted Songs in Country Music: Midnight In Montgomery

When Alan Jackson first started out in the early 1990s, he recorded the self-penned tune, Midnight In Montgomery. The haunting tune tells the story of Alan Jackson stopping by a grave on his way to a New Year's Eve show. Throughout the song, he reveals that he meets someone who was a tall man wearing a cowboy hat and a Nudi suit. That person would then disappear in the mist, but as Alan gets back on his bus, he sees the shadowy figure once again as a train rolls by.

The experience and song itself is the haunting Jackson experienced while visiting Hank Williams, Sr.'s grave on the hillside of Montgomery, Alabama. There have been many sightings and hauntings of the legendary performer over the years. The sound of the steel guitar playing gives that lonesome and chilling effect as the listener pays attention to the song.

Midnight in Montgomery peaked at the Billboard Charts at the #3 position. It comes from the album, Don't Rock the Jukebox. The video itself would go on to win the Country Music Association's Video of the Year in 1992 and TNN/Music City News Video of the Year in 1993.

Midnight in Montgomery Lyrics:
Midnight in Montgomery, silver eagle, lonely road
I was on my way to Mobile for a big New Year's Eve show
I stopped for just a minute to see a friend outside of town
Put my collar up, I found his name, and felt the wind die down

Then a drunk man in a cowboy hat took me by surprise
Wearing shiny boots, a Nudi suit and haunting haunted eyes
He said 'Friend it's good to see you, it's nice to know you care'
Then the wind picked up and he was gone
Was he ever really there

'Cause it's midnight in Montgomery
Just hear that whipporwill
See the stars light up the purple sky
Feel that lonesome chill
Cause when the wind is right, you'll hear his songs
Smell whiskey in the air
Midnight in Montgomery
He's always singing there

Well, I climbed back on that eagle, took one last look around
Through red tail lights a shadow moved slow across the ground
And off somewhere a midnight train is slowly passing by
I could hear that whistle moaning
I'm so lonesome I could cry

'Cause it's midnight in Montgomery
Just hear that whipporwill
See the stars light up the purple sky
Feel that lonesome chill
Cause when the wind is right, you'll hear his songs
Smell whiskey in the air
Midnight in Montgomery
He's always singing there
He's always singing there
Oh Hank's always singing there

Haunted Songs in Country Music: Haunted Heart

One thing that separates Sammy Kershaw from most country singers, his vocals can sing true heartache with meaning. With "Haunted Heart," you feel the ache he is feeling as his heart is haunted by the memory of the missing love. Even with his love no longer there, he continues to be haunted with her photos and the sounds in the house that brings back memories.

Haunted Heart was released in 1993 and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Lyrics to Sammy Kershaw - Haunted Heart
Go down the road called Yesterday
Take a left on a Lost Highway
And make a right on Memory Lane
Drive until you feel the pain

And at the river of tears take one last turn
And cross the bridge that just won't burn
A run down house is love's graveyard
That's where you'll find my haunted heart

Well my haunted heart can't rest in peace
It's buried with her memory
And it's a living hell here after dark
All alone with a haunted heart

Late at night a slamming door
Shadows move across the floor
Footsteps fall on silent stairs
I hear her call but no one's there

Her photograph hangs by the bed
A grim reminder love is dead
A love I killed just won't depart
It's living in my haunted heart

Well my haunted heart can't rest in peace
It's buried with her memory
And it's a living hell here after dark
All alone with a haunted heart
I said I'm all alone with a haunted heart

Haunted Songs in Country Music: Ghost Riders in the Sky

Stan Jones, who wrote the song in June 1948, heard about the ghost riders from a real cowboy: "...As lightning flashed, the Cowboy told the boy to watch closely and he would see the devil's herd, their eyes red and hooves flashing, stampede ahead of phantom horsemen. The Cowboy warned the youth that if he didn't watch himself, he would someday be up there with them, chasing steers for all eternity..."

More than 50 performers have recorded versions of the song. Charting versions were recorded by The Outlaws, Vaughn Monroe ("Riders in the Sky" with orchestra and vocal quartet), by Bing Crosby (with the Ken Darby Singers), Frankie Laine, Burl Ives, (Two different versions), Marty Robbins, and Johnny Cash. Other recordings were made by Peggy Lee (with the Jud Conlon Singers) and Spike Jones and his City Slickers. Gene Autry sang it in the 1949 movie, Riders in the Sky.

Thee original version was recorded on February 17, 1949 by Burl Ives. It first appeared on the Billboard charts on April 22, 1949, lasting 6 weeks and peaking at position #21. Riders in the Sky recorded this song on their debut album, Three on the Trail, in 1979. Johnny Cash recorded the song in 1979 and later with Willie Nelson on VH1 Storytellers in 1988.

Lyrics:
An old cowboy went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
A-plowing through the ragged sky and up the cloudy draw

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
For he saw the Riders coming hard and he heard their mournful cry

Yippie yi Ohhhhh
Yippie yi yaaaaay
Ghost Riders in the sky

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all soaked with sweat
He's riding hard to catch that herd, but he ain't caught 'em yet
'Cause they've got to ride forever on that range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire
As they ride on hear their cry

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our range
Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride
Trying to catch the Devil's herd, across these endless skies

Yippie yi Ohhhhh
Yippie yi Yaaaaay

Ghost Riders in the sky
Ghost Riders in the sky
Ghost Riders in the sky