Americana Highways presents this video premiere of folk singer Korby Lenker’s version of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More.” The song is duo Betsy Phillips and Korby Lenker singing and performing the song, with exquisite harmonies, around a table at home.
In a heartrending tribute song, this raw video of the duo will transport you to a very personal space.
This spring my little sister passed away unexpectedly. I’ve been thinking about her in the months since, who she was. She loved her family. She loved her animals. She was by far my biggest fan. Insisting I play the piano every time I came home, she’d record it on her phone and text it to me months later to let me know she was thinking of me. I wonder if I was as good to her as I should have been.
I’ve been singing this Stephen Foster classic for years. Not many songs have both a melody and a lyric this good. But a few weeks ago, that line suddenly popped into my head — “While we seek mirth and beauty…there are frail forms fainting at the door.” It really stuck me. Some of us chase our pleasure so completely we’re in danger of overlooking the people we love when they most need us.
I worked up an arrangement with my friend Betsy Phillips and we recorded it one afternoon at my house in East Nashville. For Kenna Lenker. — Korby Lenker
Discover more here: https://www.korbylenker.com
Very sweet harmony. I was not aware of this song. Thank you for bringing it to my awareness. Will add it to my song list when I play lap dulcimer for seniors and hospice patients!!! N. B. Met you Corby in Grand Haven , MI a couple of years ago. You were at an event with Sara Jane Struthers.