High lonesome sound definition Continue There is a feeling that can quietly creep over us and which is painful but also kind of unique to each of us, making it even more powerful. I'm talking about being alone. Some sounds and musical efforts to explain this isolation and particular grief are better defined by this very un-defined word than words ever could. Musical sounds that can't be described very well, but we all know what they feel like. Lonely is the sound of one trumpeter playing taps in a quiet cemetery. Lonely is the sound of an invisible Wheeler paddle blowing his steam whistle to warn other boats on the misty and dark Mississippi River. Lonely - the whistling of the train somewhere in the distance on a hot summer night. Lonely is Carlos Santana's distinctive guitar echoing through the muted and reverent stadium, before the rest of the band kicking in in Lone hears two coyotes (some Native Americans called their song dogs) singing to each other through a huge mountain meadow. Lonely is the sound of a frightened kitten thrown in the city alley. The great and often troubled Hank Williams wrote a song called I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry in the 1940s that perhaps says the best: Listen to the lonely whippowill, it sounds too blue to fly. Midnight train whining low, I was so lonely I could cry. I've never seen a night so long when time goes crawl past. The moon just went behind the cloud to hide her face and cry. Have you ever seen robaks cry when the leaves start to die? That means he lost the will to live -- I was so lonely I could cry. The silence of the falling star illuminates the purple sky. And as I wonder where you are, I am so lonely I could cry . It has to be a universal feeling, because look at the musicians who recorded this song - Leon Russell, Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Al Green, B.J. Thomas, Freddie Fender, Bob Dylan, Wynonna Judd, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Pat Metini, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cowboy Addicts and a whole bunch of modern punk rockers. Feeling alone is not the same as being sad, and it's not even necessarily about being alone. This may be because you missed someone you lost, or because you missed something you never had. It shouldn't throw you into full-blown depression, but it's not exactly a lighthearted happy feeling either. It's something you all do on your own, but we all feel that way sometimes. Any one line of Hank tells us more than the lame ace definitions I found in the directories-to be dejected by lack of communication, or depression due to lack of friends, or deserted, or remote, or secluded from society, or aware of their loneliness. No, being alone is what Hank knew about, and it's as simple as a robin in winter or a quiet falling star. And think about The lone word has no opposite in in I found myself doing some daytime drinking at Wacky Wanda recently and sometime during a blurry Star Wars bar scene someone put on some ancient bluegrass music. I think there were dancing involved at some point and certainly some attempts to sing. The next day I felt the need for aspirin and listen to some violin and banjo and the unique voice of Ralph Stanley, who died earlier this week at the age of 89, after all, we were toasting for him the day before. He started with his brother in 1946, playing what he called the old-time mountain style of music in southwest Virginia. He played a style of banjo called claws - sometimes it was called fragile, but for some reason he didn't favor the term or in calling his music bluegrass. In your style of play you hold your right hand in the form of a claw position and instead of using your fingers to strum up and your thumb to make a downbeat, it's all percussion strange downstroke. Anyway, Ole Ralph also had an unusual singing style, mostly singing high parts of vocal harmonies. In the 60's the Stanley brothers and then his band Clinch Mountain Boys were exhibited to new audiences in campuses, European festivals and for folk music lovers. In 2000, he won a Grammy for his version of A Cappella O Death, which was featured in the excellent soundtrack for the surprise film O Brother Where Art Thou? Another left, but did not forget the unusual roots of the musician- watch him on the Internet and check out his lonely sound. The phrase High Lonesome Sound refers to American roots music, which most of us call Bluegrass. He was inspired by immigrants from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland and borrowed many of the melodies of their traditional music. In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, country and rock, one or more instruments take turns playing the melody and imprivoc around it, while other instruments accompany and provide rhythm. Old time music like Dixieland Jazz usually has all the instruments playing the melody. It's like weaving a bunch of similar musical strands together. Bluegrass originated in rural dance groups in the Appalachians, and traditionally plays acoustic stringed instruments - violin, 4 and 5 string banjo, guitar, mandolin, vertical string bass, goodness and sometimes harmonica. Bluegrass's father, Bill Monroe, described it as Scottish bagpipes and an old time violin. It is methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz and it has a high lonely sound. Bluegrass guitars are usually played in a flat-picking style, and banjo players use 3 finger style of choice. Violinists use many double strings using intervals of thirds and fifths, which creates a distinctive sound. Bass almost always played pizzicato (without onion-ripped) and sometimes uses percussion technique. Another hallmark of bluegrass are vocal harmonies, usually involving 2, 3 or 4 parts, often with dissonance or modal sound in the highest voice, another reason why it is described as a tall, lonely sound. Order and layering are called vocal stacks. The standard stack has a baritone voice at the bottom, a leading voice in the middle with a basic melody, and a tenor at the top. Including higher female voices changes the stack, with a high lead voice octave above the standard melody line. Bluegrass music, which can be old-fashioned, or gospel influence, or traditional, or what is now called newgrass, has attracted diverse and loyal followers around the world. There are bluegrass festivals, bluegrass camps, library of Congress and Smithsonian recordings, documentaries, magazines, fan clubs, cross-over stars and many front-porch pickers. Nothin' is more fun than hanging out around a campfire playing Pig in a Pen or Sally Goodin with a bunch of wacko bluegrass gatherers and singers. The bluegrass festival is much more than a regular concert - it's a master class on the creation of instruments, styles of play, history, food and stories about rural traditions. Lots of pickin 'and grinnin'. Bluegrass music has the authenticity that its well-mannered cousin, country music, can only aspire to. It offers musical pleasure with the depth and soul of generations of musicians who have crossed oceans and cultures, and who have found a way to capture the pain of life not through the slow blues of their African-American counterparts, but with songs of praise and fun and stories. Steve Martin used to make a fun routine about how he could play a song about death and poverty and murder on a banjo and he would still sound happy. Today there are many jam bands that include bluegrass in their rock compositions. Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) loved bluegrass, and was part of one of the most important bluegrass albums of all time, Old and In The Way, which also featured David Grisman, Peter Rowan, John Kahn and my all-time favorite violinist, Vassar Clements. Vassar was an amazing musician from Kissimmee, Florida, who could play lightning-fast impossible things or slow emotional material that could make you cry. He couldn't read music, so I think he never knew how technically difficult things he wrote and played really. One day he asked me to play music for him from a book that had published transcriptions of his songs. He was curious to see how close the writer came to accurately reproducing his work using musical notes. It was hard as hell, I could barely wade through it and certainly not do it justice, but ever a gentleman, he thanked me for trying ... ... Bluegrass music is a wonderful, cheerful and expressive style, I hope everyone will expose themselves to at some point. It has a rich history, and the stars of this genre are almost always available, cute humble people who play with generosity and love for their music. While you're at it, expose yourself to live music when you can check around the area to see who's bringing the musicians on stage and go support them! Come south on a Friday night to Dominica and dance with Ben Jammin and Howlers in the beautiful and spacious Rock Verde, especially if you feel a little lonely. I want to hear that loud sound because my sweet baby isn't around. When my life is down, I want to hear that loud sound. Vince Gill Lonely sigh train, and walking past makes me want to stop and cry. I remember the day it took you - I'm blue, I'm lonely, too.