Bill Friskics-Warren, a native of Chicago and longtime resident of Nashville, is the author of Heartaches by the Number: Country Music’s 500 Greatest Singles and I’ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence. His writing has also appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, SPIN, The Village Voice, Nashville Scene, Newsday, and The Los Angeles Times.
With its haunting melody, pressing rhythms, and determination, in the face of the grief that inspired it, to look on the positive side of things, Hebb’s recording of “Sunny” captured the spirit of its time.