There are sad country songs, and then there are songs that are truly heartbreaking. These three country songs, all out in 2022, still break our hearts today.
Videos by American Songwriter
“What He Didn’t Do” by Carly Pearce
All of Carly Pearce’s 29: Written In Stone album is vulnerable and honest. Detailing her mixed emotions over the end of her brief marriage to Michael Ray, Pearce wrote “What He Didn’t Do” with Ashley Gorley and Emily Shackleton.
“What He Didn’t Do” says, “Everybody’s asking what the hell happened / Wonderin’ why it all went wrong / Mama always said, ‘If you can’t say something nice / Then don’t say anything at all’ / And I’ve got my side of the story and he’s got his side, too / So I ain’t gonna go and tell you what he did / But I’ll tell you what he didn’t do / Treat me right, put me first, be a man of his word / Stay home ’cause he wanted to / Always fight for my love, hold on tight like it’s something / That he couldn’t stand to lose / The devil’s in the details, I won’t tell the hell that he put me through / All I know is in the end, it wasn’t what he did / No, it was what he didn’t do.”
The video for “What He Didn’t Do” shows Pearce in a long white dress, similar to a wedding gown.
“We just wanted something that would flow in the water,” she tells ABC Audio. “Obviously, it’s symbolic of a really big time in my life. And I think the whole video, it just symbolizes kind of a rebirth.”
“Ghost Story” by Carrie Underwood
On Carrie Underwood’s Denim & Rhinestones album, “Ghost Story” is about the bittersweetness of knowing someone is living with the consequences of their wrong choice. Written by David Garcia, Josh Kear, and Hillary Lindsey, the song became a Top 10 hit for Underwood.
“Ghost Story” says, “You’ll be sitting at home drinking about me / When I’m out with my friends at the bar / But there ain’t enough whiskey for you not to miss me / I’ll be waiting at the bottom of the bottle in the dark / I’m gonna be your ghost story / That keeping you up, all night memory / I’ll be haunting you, you’ll be wanting me / I’m gonna be your ghost story.”
“Going, Going, Gone” by Luke Combs
Luke Combs writes a lot of happy love songs, but he can pen a heartbreaking song just as easily. Written by Combs, Ray Fulcher, and James McNair, “Going, Going, Gone” is on Combs’ Growin’ Up album.
“Going, Going, Gone” is about letting someone you love leave. The sad song says, “Like a runaway southbound train / Like an Arizona desert rain / Like lightning in the sky / Like fireworks in July / Like a left field homerun ball / Like a whiskey shot at last call / It’s like she was made for moving on / That girl is going, going, gone.”
Photo by Mickey Bernal/Getty Images
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