Hank Williams -- "Lost Highway"
Though Hank Williams didn't write this song, it seems like he did. That's a compliment paid to the author of the song, Leon Payne, but it's also a point in Williams' favor: he found a song that seemed to have been made for him, and he made it his own. If the rhythm seems to bounce a little bit too much, belying the dark themes of the song, maybe that's just Hank -- he took dark things and tried to give them some bounce. It was only at the end, with the demos he recorded shortly before his death, that the springy rhythms went away for good.
The main guitar solo is a six-string electric, not a steel guitar, which is not by any means unique to Williams' catalog, but it is right for the feel of the song and gives it a more bluesy feel. This is also one of the few Hank Williams singles to feature mandolin, played in the background during the third verse. The highlight, though, of couse, is Hank's voice, which is always the case with him.
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