As we get deeper into January, the winter weather is hitting hard all over the country, and we find ourselves sitting around a cozy fire more often, and bundling up when we step outside.
Just this week (1/10), news stories on CNN forecast that another big storm is coming across the country and we can expect snow and ice in some parts.
Country music has been dealing with cold for decades, dating back at least to Hank Williams’ “Cold Cold Heart” in 1950. Of course, “cold” isn’t just an air temperature; it can describe a feeling.
Luke Combs told us a few years back when he was preparing for a new album of songs, “I think there’s a lot of guys specifically my age that have a hard time being emotional, which is… [an] absolutely huge mistake. And I think it leads to a whole lot of problems later on in your life. But I think it’s okay to, when your girlfriend leaves you to be sad about that. It’s okay to cry when your dad passes away, or it’s okay to want to be a sloppy college guy, even though you’re 29 years old, and go out and get drunk and take a cab home like that.”
Combs continued, “There are times when I feel like five different people. I can be a songwriter or be a guy in the grocery store going to get what guys at the grocery store go and get. I think the songs are kind of like that. They’re different, like every day is different for me. I don’t wake up every day and go, ‘I’m a big famous country guy,’ and that’s it. I am who I am, you know, and I get sad about stuff, and I have a good time and, you know, I reminisce on high school even though I’m playing Red Rocks.”
He adds, “As long as you’re doing what makes you happy, I don’t understand why people are so concerned with what other people view them as.”
Gearing up for a cold winter, we gathered what we believe are some of country music’s downright coldest songs.