BLUEGRASS: Sad songs say so much

I have finally gotten around to listening to a CD I bought at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Fest over Labor Day weekend and, boy, does it put the "blue" in bluegrass. It's a catalog of woe: corrupt judges, card sharps, greedy factory owners, unfaithful lovers, two-faced companions.
In one song, the singer tells us that he let a handsome stranger shelter in his barn on a cold night. The very next day, the handsome stranger was gone -- taking with him the singer's wife and child.
"No!" I cried.
But at least there's always the next train out of town -- unless, of course, the gallows is involved.