Allison Krauss and Union Station, one of my favorite American roots music bands, recorded an old bluegrass standard that begins, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”5 Never underestimate the power of bluegrass music to shine a humorous light on a harsh truth. This opening line is close to the heart of what once was the reigning civil religion of North America. The truth of its first statement is obvious to anyone working with the recently bereaved.