Gillian Welch’s Neo-Traditional Hymn “I’m Not Afraid To Die”

The first time I heard Gillian Welch’s achingly lovely neotraditional folk song “I’m Not Afraid To Die”, I heard it sung in harmony by my dear friend and her dying father. He was in hospice at home in Santa Fe, lying on a hospital bed, facing the end of his long battle with bone cancer. He was in an immense amount of pain, which required constant adjustment and readjustment of many pillows in an attempt to provide some relief for his emaciated body. 

I was seated on a sofa at his bedside while my friend tended to her father, gently lifting limbs up and fluffing his pillows, when he asked her to play “I’m Not Afraid To Die.” She sat down on the sofa next to me, picked up her guitar and the two of them began to sing. 

I was stunned, and it remains one of the most moving musical moments I’ve ever witnessed. His rich baritone and her husky alto, the beautiful simplicity of the tune and its message, and the reality of the sand quickly running out of the hourglass of his life created a hushed sense of reverence that completely floored me. I bought the song immediately upon heading back home to Los Angeles, and Gillian Welch did not disappoint — the bare-bones production of the song and her heartfelt delivery are intimate, raw and utterly captivating. When she sings,

“Nobody knows what waits ahead

Beyond the earth and sky

Lied, lied, lie

I’m not afraid to die,”

she is as convincing as my friend’s father when he sang the song from his hospital bed, mere weeks before he died.

Although the lyrics don’t allude to any particular spiritual belief system, there is a distinct spiritual bent to the song. As Welch sings the refrain “I’m not afraid to die” again and again, I hear it as a peaceful surrender to the unknown that both soothes and inspires.

Watch Gillian perform “I’m Not Afraid to Die” in the video below.