What is the story behind the Reba macintire song "lights went out in georgia?"?

The song is by Vicki Lawrence originally, and was a #1 hit in 1972 in the US.

The song tells the tale of about a man who finds out from his friend Andy that his wife had cheated on him with both Andy and a guy named Seth. The man gets a gun and sets out to kill Andy, but when he arrives, Andy is already dead. The police show up, arrest him for killing Andy and he is hanged. The singer then reveals that she is the man's sister and that she shot Andy and also killed her brother's wife.

This was the only hit for Lawrence, who was an actress on The Carol Burnett Show and starred in Mama's Family. She briefly had her own talk show, called Vicki!.

The song was written by Bobby Russell, who was Lawrence's husband at the time. They divorced soon after the song was released. Russell didn't think much of this song when he wrote it, and couldn't find anyone to record it. Lawrence liked it and recorded a demo of it. Producer Snuff Garrett decided she should do the song and recorded it with her.

Russell, who also wrote "Honey," which was a hit in 1968 for Bobby Goldsboro, died of a heart attack in 1992.