“Sunday in the South”
Shenandoah
Written by Jay Booker
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
August 4, 1989
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
August 19, 1989
Kris Kristofferson passing away has a lot of people listening to “Sunday Morning Coming Down” again, and it’s impossible not to compare “Sunday in the South” to that classic recording right now.
It helps that the song itself acknowledges its predecessor: “Another sacred Sunday’s coming down.” The Shenandoah record became a classic in its own right, but I find it more interesting to listen to it with the context of its influencing hit in mind. It’s like one of those television episodes where we get to see the same scene from the perspective of a different character. This is what was going down on Sunday morning around him when Kristofferson was coming down.
We get beautiful vignettes in barber shops and churches, all delivered so softly that you can easily miss the Confederacy sympathism in the second verse. That section is a bit more revealing now than it seemed 35 years ago, adding an additional layer of complexity to these good, church-going, freedom-loving Southerners whose insular worlds uplift some of their own, while leaving others wandering the streets and wishing they were stoned.
The only thing that keeps it from an A for me is the lack of a discernable melody in the chorus. But aside from needing a stronger hook, it’s hard to fault this record. It’s a slice of Americana that is deeper and more revealing than we usually get from a number one country single.
“Sunday in the South” gets a B+.
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I’ve noticed this happening with increased frequency. I log into the website and see no new activity for days, only to get a glut of new posts pop up all at once, dated days ago. Not sure how this happens. I’ve logged in on my home and work computer, on both Firefox and Chrome, and still saw no indication that this review was posted two days ago until three reviews showed up at once, one of which had reviews from other commenters!
Anyway, to the Shenandoah song. Would it have existed without Kristofferson’s classic predecessor as a lodestar? It seems like some incarnation of this theme was inevitable. Either way, few singers work their way through a soft ballad the way Marty Raybon can, and the experience was all the most satisfying seeing the visuals of the music video in coordination with the descriptive lyrics. It was actually the first time I’d seen the video.
I haven’t heard this song in a good 20 years and never fully processed the part of the song that hasn’t aged so well (the second verse) until today. While it elicits a cringe in 2024, I can imagine a descriptive ballad of a Sunday in the south would have seemed inauthentic even in 1989 if the rebel flag in the town square went unmentioned. Growing up on the far north side of the Mason-Dixon Line, I got plenty of education about the south from country music generally and from Shenandoah specifically. I learned about the “whipporwill” and “kudzu” from their music and/or album titles. Can’t remember who I first heard about “muscadine wine” from, but I know it was mentioned in some popular country song long before Jason Aldean.
A solid, easy-listening ballad. In one sense, I agree that a stronger melody might have improved it, but it would also run the risk of stepping on Raybon’s soft delivery, so maybe I should be careful what I wish for.
Grade: A-
The southern Sunday being described here sounded exotic and deliciously foreign to my ears, similar to the Sunday from Kristofferson’s perspective down to Craig Morgan’s “That’s What I Love About Sunday.”
The gentle lyrical details of this hit are custom made for Raybon’s tender interpretation. The performance is reverential and sounds beautifully sweet and special. It’s a wonderfully observed song.
Yet, there is a subtle elusiveness to the idyllic sentimental reminiscence of the past. I can almost hear other voices wanting to contribute their part, but this song is not theirs.
In fact, the solidity of the narrator’s control of the scene setting is assured in all three of the southern Sunday songs mentioned. That we don’t have any back story for fuller context or character development only tightens the focus of the image they choose to paint.
Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” is built and scraped together from the ground up whereas Shenandoah’s “Sunday in the South” is a top down, almost divine, celebration of the Sunday scene. Morgan plays it right down the middle, with a hands-on, decidedly domestic approach to the sacred day.
This was, and remains, one of my favourite songs from this era because it is still evocative and mysterious to me.