Is It Raining At Your House: Remembering Hank Cochran

Saturday night, as darkness came on, I heard what I thought was thunder off  in the distance, only to look out and discover that fireworks were bursting just over the treetops to the east. I walked outside to get a better look. From the back yard, I could see the colors light up the night sky out beyond my garden. Not the best seat in the house, but not bad.

My guess is, they were the Hay Lake Fireworks, a summertime gift from the residents of that lake. You can get there by boat, of course, or just park your car in the grass on the roadside near the lake and throw a blanket on the ground. Or, watch through the trees from the back porch of your house. A light rain was falling, as I watched from under the eaves, the fireworks glinting off the tin roof of the old chicken coop.

And as I watched, I thought about Hank Cochran, who passed on last Thursday. He was one of the finest songwriters in country music. You probably know some of them, maybe even grew up listening to them, as I did: "I Fall to Pieces" and "She's Got You," by Patsy Cline. "Make the World Go Away," by Ray Price, and many more he either wrote or co-wrote, including some for George Strait and Vern Gosdin, whose voice still makes me want to weep every time I hear it. Soulful, is the only way to describe it.

Behind every great singer, there's an equally great songwriter helping to make it all happen. Here's Vern, singing my favorite Hank Cochran song (Hank shared songwriting credit with Vern and Dean Dillon on this one): "Is It Raining At Your House?"