“Girl at the Crossroads Bar” is a Bill Bryson song. Bryson was a bass player, singer and songwriter who, after military service in Vietnam, worked mostly in Los Angeles and around California in old-time, bluegrass and country bands; he was a member of the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Desert Rose Band and the Laurel Canyon Ramblers, toured with Country Gazette, and recorded with the Dillards and Rose Maddox. He died on 30 April 2017, aged 70.
The Bluegrass Cardinals recorded the song in October 1975 at Westlake Audio in Los Angeles, with Bryson himself singing lead and playing bass, Randy Graham singing tenor and playing mandolin, David Parmley on guitar and baritone, Don Parmley on banjo and Dennis Fetchet on fiddle. It appeared in 1976 on the band’s self-titled album for Briar.
The narrator sets out one evening meaning only to wander the town, catches sight of a woman stepping into the bar, and goes in after her. Over a glass of wine he declares his love and offers her whatever she wants. She turns him down flat: she belongs to the barroom and its night life, she would only treat him badly, and the love he is looking for is not to be had there. The last verse speaks to the listeners, telling the married men among them that they are better off with the wife waiting at home.
Larry Sparks took up the song in the late 1970s. He recorded it on 16 March 1978 at Lemco Sound Studio in Lexington, Kentucky, a cut that came out in 1980 on John Deere Tractor (Rebel), and in the meantime released a separate recording on Kinda Lonesome (Lesco, 1979). Bill Grant and Delia Bell recorded it in Nashville for Rollin’ (Rebel, 1981), with Josh Graves on Dobro and Benny Martin on fiddle. The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, with Garcia, David Nelson and Sandy Rothman singing, recorded it in 1987 for Almost Acoustic, issued by Grateful Dead Records in December 1988.
