“…like a stranger in the night…” – Hank Williams

This week Saragun Springs celebrates the spirit of Dolly Parton through a celebration of the music of Hank Williams, because DP loved Hank Williams and because Hank Williams is the William Shakespeare of American country music.

Bill Maher said a lot of obnoxious, hypocritical things about Dolly when she died. His comments show that he, like everyone who laughed along with him that night, judges life through the material lens of the Golden Calf ($) only.

Dolly, I do believe, was different.

As a cultural figure in American life, she was the counterpart, in many ways, of Willie Nelson. Both artists cross boundaries almost like no one else.

Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are literary geniuses, but it cannot be said that either one of them reach “all” audiences in the way Dolly Parton or Willie Nelson do.

In their ability to be popular with (almost) everyone, Dolly and Willie are more akin to Elvis and Johnny Cash than to Dylan and Cohen.

There are many people who do not like Bob Dylan for a huge variety of reasons and, before he died, there were many, many more people who did not like Leonard Cohen either.

They thought Cohen was BORING and gloomy and confusing, IF they thought of him at all, which they rarely did.

(Cohen’s status changed radically with his comeback tour in 2008 – 2013 and then after his death.)

One of Dolly Parton’s favorite songs by Hank Williams is called “I Saw the Light.”

She performed it many, many times.

As with Robert Johnson, Hank’s music sounds old-fashioned at first; IF one is not listening carefully.

“I Saw the Light” is not just a Gospel song, and you do not need to “believe” in Jesus, or even God, to get a lot out of this song.

This song is about a privileged moment.

A privileged moment here does not mean what “privileged” means in the currently politically correct sense.

It means an epiphany, which is an intense, life-giving realization that doesn’t last forever but has strong echoes and reverberations.

Being “in the zone” is another way to put this in modern terms.

Wordsworth called all this and all these: “spots of time.”

They do not last.

But they leave a lingering resonance.

True and real artists cannot, and would not, ever, create anything at all, without privileged moments, epiphanies, being in the zone, having spots of time.

You can choose to take these spots of time to the next level and believe in life after death, like Dolly and Hank did and Bob Dylan does.

Where the white people live/d Jesus is depicted as a white guy and where the black people live/d Jesus is depicted as a black guy and in Japan he’s depicted as a Japanese guy and in India he’s depicted as an Indian guy and in Mexico a Mexican and for Native Americans he’s a Native American, and so forth. He’s the greatest shapeshifter who ever lived or ever will live. That’s just one reason why there are four canonical accounts (four perspectives) on his life none of which agree on all the details.

Michael Jackson, Elvis, The Beatles, Donald Trump, are NOT the most famous humans on the Planet and have never been the most famous persons on the Planet and never will be the most famous persons on the Planet, and not even close, although there are many (who are in the wrong on this) who have said they are the most famous persons on the Planet.

Jesus is the most famous person on the Planet. And he has been so for at least 1,500 years. His spirit was alive among humans long before he actually put feet on Planet Earth.

Sometimes I wonder why that is.

There’s something deeper going on here.

And just because we cannot see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Dale Barrigar

And how about some bonus Hank from some of country’s Big Names