Long Black Veil
1959
Notable versions: Lefty Frizzell, Sammi Smith, Dave Matthews/Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash/Joni Mitchell, Garcia/Grisman/Rice
"I spoke not a word, though it meant my life / I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife."
Inside the Song
Long Black Veil tells a tale of sacrifice and secret love through three haunting verses and a chorus. A man faces execution for a murder he didn't commit, choosing death over revealing his alibi—he was with his best friend's wife at the time. While the story is narrated from beyond the grave by the executed man, the true protagonist is his lover, who also keeps their secret at terrible cost. She stands silently in the crowd during his public execution, unable to speak the truth that would save him. Now she bears the weight of their choices alone, visiting his grave in the dark of night.
The veil in the song works as a layered symbol. On its surface, it represents the traditional mourning garb of a widow, but here it carries deeper meaning. She only appears at night, when she can finally express her grief away from watching eyes. Her burden is perhaps even heavier than the narrator's—while his secret died with him, she must continue living in their small community, keeping their affair hidden from her husband while carrying the weight of both loss and silence. The chorus paints this private vigil: "She walks these hills in a long black veil, visits my grave when the night winds wail." These moments of solitary grieving, known only to the dead narrator and now to us as listeners, capture her profound isolation. The narrator tells this story from beyond death, where he can witness but never comfort his lover, as she carries their secret into an endless future, protecting everyone's honor at the cost of her own peace.
Personal History
One cold winter night in New Mexico, I drove through the rain to Abiquiu to play an open mic put on by my friend AT, of AT and the Fantasy Suites. The small café was packed and steamy, creating an intimate atmosphere. During the musical break after the second chorus, I broke from tradition and spoke to the audience, sharing my theory that without jealousy and monogamy, half of country and blues music might never have existed. I questioned the song's central premise: would someone really choose death over admitting to an affair? After my set, someone mentioned they'd never heard the song before and hadn't known how it would end—a gentle reminder that sometimes it's better to let the music speak for itself.
The song feels like it's always been part of my musical vocabulary. While I first consciously remember learning it from the 2000 Garcia/Grisman Pizza Tapes version, it's possible I'd absorbed earlier country versions without realizing it. The song exemplifies classic country songwriting—intuitive chord changes supporting a melody that captures the sound of grief itself—the sound of keening, or wailing, mimicked at the end of every line of the chorus. The Dave Matthews Band's 1999 version, which came out at around the same time as I remember first learning it, emphasized to me that aspect of the song. It also demonstrated the flexible timing typical of the many versions of the song, where the spacing between verses, or the between lines, can expand or contract.
One of my fondest memories of performing this song came at a small 2018 festival at the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, organized by Always Choose Adventures. I played an hour-long set, followed by bluegrass champion Tyler Grant. His version stayed true to Lefty Frizzell's traditional arrangement, moving directly from the first verse into the second without pause. I watched his set with my friend Mohan, who has since passed away, as Tyler transitioned from Long Black Veil into Me and My Uncle—a perfect moment of musical connection. Read the Song Story about Me and My Uncle.
Tyler, Chantelle, and Mohan at the Great Sand Dunes in 2018. Picture from Mohan's Facebook account.