Terry Bradshaw is a man of many talents. Most known for his ties to football as a four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bradshaw’s creative endeavors have brought him to TV and movie screens. Oh, and he’s quite the singer to boot.
Bradshaw has dipped into country music, dropping his debut album in 1976, which is titled I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. That is indeed the song made famous by Hank Williams, and Bradshaw’s commendable cover of that number shot up all the way to 17th on the Billboard country music chart in the USA.
A couple other songs off that album made the country top 100 as well, but the titular track was Bradshaw’s apex of commercial success.
It’s fascinating to break this song down all these years later, with so much more context and information publicly known about Bradshaw and what he was dealing with at the time. Williams’ smash hit really is a dark lyrical piece. Whether it’s the “lonesome whippoorwill” who “sounds too blue to fly” traditionally serving as an ill omen, or the more direct line, “lost the will to live”, Bradshaw’s longing vocals almost present like a somber howl at the moon.
Now we know that Bradshaw was dealing with a lot back in the day. Not having proper protocols in place on the football field to deal with the six known concussions he suffered didn’t help the cause. Bradshaw revealed years later in 1999 that he was diagnosed with clinical depression, and was concerned he was going to drink himself to death after his third divorce. At least from what I’ve gathered, Bradshaw went public with all this in early 2004, when going on the record about mental health was not at all in vogue, particularly for men.
Whether Bradshaw was dealing with drinking issues back during his playing days isn’t totally clear, but Williams received treatment for alcoholism only about a year before his untimely death in 1953 at age 29. The heartbreaking words of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” sounds like a cry for help.
Pretty sad to think about how Williams couldn’t find much peace of mind before his life was cut way too short. The silver lining to that rather tragic part of his legacy is that Bradshaw, after clearly connecting with Williams’ famous tune, eventually managed to pull himself out of some dark places and still carries on to this day as an entertainer and NFL broadcaster for FOX.
Like Williams did way back when, Bradshaw has performed at the Grand Ole Opry and plays music with his family under The Bradshaw Bunch banner. Seeing sports pros show off their creative talents is always neat for me.
To close this out, we’ll throw it back to Mr. Williams’ original song.