Country music is one of those genres that can involve just about any subject out there. Most country songs focus on themes like love, politics, and culture, but sometimes, country music will dip into more nefarious storytelling. The following three country songs, specifically, were actually written about real-life crimes. Let’s take a look, shall we? Some of these stories were news to me.
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“John Hardy” by Various Artists
This song has been performed by everyone from Bobby Bare to The Kingston Trio to Lead Belly to Earl Scruggs. It’s a traditional folk-country song that’s been around since the 1800s, and it is allegedly about a real-life person mentioned in historical documents… and a real-life crime.
The story goes that the historical John Hardy got into a drunken fight over a card game in West Virginia, and as a result, murdered a man called Thomas Drews. It is also believed that pining over the same woman was a factor in the crime. He was charged with first-degree murder and later hanged in 1894, allegedly in front of a crowd of 3,000 people. Before his death, Hardy blamed his crime on his habit of drinking whiskey.
“The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde” by Merle Haggard
To be honest, and at the risk of sounding very dumb, I thought the story of Bonnie and Clyde was fictional for quite some time. I was surprised to learn that they were very much real people who committed more than a few crimes, which ended with them paying the ultimate price.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were real-life criminals during the Great Depression era. They robbed numerous banks, stole from stores and gas stations, murdered police officers and a few civilians, and were generally substantial outlaws for a few years in the 1930s. Both of these famous criminals were ambushed by police and shot dead in 1934 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
“Wacko From Waco” by Billy Joe Shaver and Willie Nelson
How about a more recent tune? This tune makes it to our list of country songs about real crimes because it tells the story of a real-life murder that happened in recent times. And, no, it’s not about the Waco siege involving a religious cult in 1993. This song is about an incident that occurred in 2007. Specifically, “Wacko From Waco” was inspired by a crime that Billy Joe Shaver committed himself.
In 2007, at Papa Joe’s Saloon in Waco, Texas, Shaver got into a fight with another patron and shot him. Billy Bryant Coker, the victim, survived his injuries, and Shaver was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense in 2010.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
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