In 1985, 100 years after the publication of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, witty tunesmith Roger Miller helped shine a bright spot on an otherwise dismal season for Broadway musicals with his original score for Big River, an adaptation of Twain’s classic novel. The long-running musical, which featured future Roseanne star John Goodman, won seven Tony awards, including one for Miller.
One of Big River‘s most enduring numbers, the poignant “River in the Rain” is among the standouts on Windy City, the 2017 LP from Alison Krauss. The mysterious pull of the mighty Mississippi has the longtime Grand Ole Opry star singing poignantly of a “time of trouble… when your muddy bubbles roll across my floor, carrying away the things I treasure.” But rather than merely lamenting the loss, she wonders “why I love you more than I did the day before.”
