Album: Yonder Mountain String Band (2006)
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Songfacts®:

  • One of the most popular YMSB songs, "Angel" is about a guy who is addled by heartbreak, wondering if his girl will come back to him (unlikely), and knowing that if she doesn't the Devil will get him.

    The song came together very quickly in a group collaboration. In our interview with banjo player Dave Johnston, he explained: "We had the chorus, 'Are you gonna be my angel?', but we didn't know what to do with that. And then Tom [Rothrock] added that one other line, 'The devil's never going to let me save my poor soul,' and we were like, 'Good! It's done!' It's one of those things where as you went through it, it was almost like a crossword puzzle, where the solution pops up as you go along."

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