“High lonesome” is the phrase bluegrass uses for its emotional center, and a chunk of the repertoire goes straight to that feeling — songs about being alone, about a sadness that doesn’t fit on the Lost Love list. Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Tecumseh Valley” sit alongside old mountain ballads like “In the Pines.” First-generation bluegrass adds its bleakest — Bill Monroe’s “I’m Blue I’m Lonesome,” the Stanley Brothers’ “The White Dove.” A few cross over from country because the feel matched: Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely,” Utah Phillips’ “Rock Salt and Nails.”

Each song’s page on Picker’s Guide has chord charts, lyrics, recordings, and song history.