“Life’s Too Short” is a song written and recorded by the Delmore Brothers, Alton and Rabon, the Alabama duo who were among the most influential acts in early country music. They recorded it for King Records in 1950, late in the brothers’ long career.
By that point the Delmores had moved their close-harmony brother-duet sound toward the rhythmic, blues-tinged style sometimes called hillbilly boogie. “Life’s Too Short” carries a plainspoken message — that life is too short to waste on worry or regret — set against the brothers’ easy, swinging groove.
The song was carried to a later audience by Hot Rize, the Colorado band, who recorded it for their 1987 album “Untold Stories.” Their version, heard here, is one of many in which modern bluegrass musicians have drawn on the deep and influential Delmore Brothers catalog.
