I'd Be Better Off (In A Pine Box) - Doug Stone - 1990 (Album - Doug Stone)
Doug Stone recorded this gem in 1990, and it's one of the most gut wrenching songs imaginable, but I love every word and note of this masterpiece. It's an incredible debut song for a new artist that gets right down to it and pulls no punches on what it feels like to be punched in the gut in love - and lose someone that seems irreplaceable. This song is borderline brutal, but it speaks directly to many who have lost a great love. This went to #4, but it should have easily been a #1. This was Grammy nominated launching his career which had a bunch of big hit songs throughout the 1990's. We don't really record songs like this much anymore. Today, it's not fashionable to sing about how you are hurting, but it's more likely to sing about how angry you are, and how you wish bad things on the one that seemingly did you wrong. This song is sad, true country that you powerfully feel. The reason I love this song is not many genres of music, if any, have the guts to be this vulnerable. This is one of our sides that make us completely different, unique and far more heartfelt than virtually every other kind of music. Some feel this is one of the best written pure country songs of any era. Hard to argue.
