James King
Crazy Heart
“Crazy Heart” was written by Billy Smith, a longtime collaborator of the Lonesome River Band, and appears on the band’s 1996 Sugar Hill album One Step Forward. Smith wrote a number of songs for the band during Ronnie Bowman’s tenure as lead singer, and this is one of the pieces from that period that has carried over into the broader contemporary bluegrass repertoire.
The lyric is a heartbreak narrative in the country-bluegrass crossover style: the narrator’s heart keeps choosing badly despite better judgement, and the song works the gap between the head’s resignation and the heart’s stubbornness. Bowman’s high tenor lead and the band’s tight three-part chorus harmony are the elements most commonly imitated in cover versions.
The recording sits in a productive moment for the Lonesome River Band — the mid-1990s lineup with Bowman, Don Rigsby, Sammy Shelor, and Kenny Smith was widely regarded as one of the strongest contemporary bands of the decade, and One Step Forward consolidated several IBMA awards. “Crazy Heart” is a comfortable singer’s number in G or A and remains a frequent jam call at contemporary bluegrass events.