Sophronie

A bluegrass song written by Alton Delmore and D.C. Mullins, first recorded by Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys at a February 19, 1958 Bradley Studio session in Nashville and released on Decca. The lyric is a kiss-em-and-leave-em narrator’s lament, once a hot shot with women, now reduced to a teardrop in his eye after the woman named Sophronie left him. Martin’s recording features J.D. Crowe on banjo, Paul Williams on mandolin, and Gordon Terry on fiddle, and it remains the definitive version. Covers include David Grisman on Home Is Where the Heart Is (1988) and frequent live performances by Billy Strings.

Alton Delmore (1908–1964) was half of the Delmore Brothers duo with his brother Rabon, Grand Ole Opry stars of the 1930s and prolific songwriters; he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.