"New" Hank Williams material (1 Viewer)

[Ron1973]

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's website has been adding heretofore unheard "new" Hank Williams material. The sound quality isn't that great on most of them, but it is vintage Hank. Most are live recordings from the Opry and Louisiana Hayride, but there is what appears to be the original demo of "Lovesick Blues" as well as several "live" recordings from Johnny Fair Blue Ribbon Syrup Show including a commercial or two of Hank promoting the syrup. There are a handful of complete Opry shows with Hank on them.

I wonder how many artists of today would do a live performance of something they had just written? Here's Hank live on the Louisiana Hayride debuting "I Could Never Be Ashamed of You":

http://digi.countrymusichalloffame.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/musicaudio/id/6351/rec/31

 

[Steve...O]

I wonder how many people today realize that Hank was only 29 when he died. Patsy was only in her 30s.

Country singers from the 40s - 70s had a very long shelf life and made great music their entire lives. Those were the days when artists could have 25 years of bona fide hits and another 15-20 years of steady touring after that.

How much great music did we miss out on? Even if Fred Rose secretly wrote some songs Hank claimed for himself, the hits would have kept coming. Especially for Patsy who was Nashville Sound before the term came into vogue.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Ron!

 

[Radioman970]

On the other end... Willie Nelson who is very much alive and doing stuff like this...

 

[Ron1973]

On the other end... Willie Nelson who is very much alive and doing stuff like this...

Yet we can't get his music played on mainstream "country" radio.

 

[Radioman970]

Yet we can't get his music played on mainstream "country" radio.

I put it in regular rotation at my little town station last week. Starts small I hope.

 

[Rodney]

There's always his house...

 

[Steve...O]

Smaller markets who don't report into Billboard, etc. may have deeper playlists especially in the Midwest and South. I listen to a classic country station that plays deep deep cuts from the 40s on and will also play new releases from traditional artists.

 

[Ron1973]

Smaller markets who don't report into Billboard, etc. may have deeper playlists especially in the Midwest and South. I listen to a classic country station that plays deep deep cuts from the 40s on and will also play new releases from traditional artists.

We have a station that used to be so excellent years ago. You never knew if you'd hear the latest song from George Strait or if you'd hear Elvis or Hank. They still had 78's on hand! These days it's nothing but the same cookie cutter nonsense that every other station plays, yet they want to hawk their "legendary" status in commercials. I asked one of the DJ's one day when I saw him out why he never played any of the old stuff like they used to do. He said they still had everything they had before, except now Hank Williams and Roy Acuff are stuck on a shelf in the station and he's not allowed to touch it.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I wonder how many people today realize that Hank was only 29 when he died. Patsy was only in her 30s.

Country singers from the 40s - 70s had a very long shelf life and made great music their entire lives. Those were the days when artists could have 25 years of bona fide hits and another 15-20 years of steady touring after that.

How much great music did we miss out on? Even if Fred Rose secretly wrote some songs Hank claimed for himself, the hits would have kept coming. Especially for Patsy who was Nashville Sound before the term came into vogue.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Ron!

You know, we always ask "what did we miss". But look at the era that was coming up when Hank Sr. died. The Nashville sound. The Jordanaires and violins and all the stuff MGM did to his recordings after he died. So the question becomes, would he have had all of that forced upon him and had his own sound destroyed, or would he have came through it with no trouble.

Same goes for Buddy Holly. His death marked the hibernation of rock and roll music in the US until those four lovely moptops from Liverpool saved us all from Fabian and Andy Williams (yes, I know that's an overexaggeration, but work with me here). But, Buddy was already headed down the big band pop music alley before his death, so would he have really kept cranking out the three chord rock that he did so well?

 

[Ron1973]

You know, we always ask "what did we miss". But look at the era that was coming up when Hank Sr. died. The Nashville sound. The Jordanaires and violins and all the stuff MGM did to his recordings after he died. So the question becomes, would he have had all of that forced upon him and had his own sound destroyed, or would he have came through it with no trouble.

Same goes for Buddy Holly. His death marked the hibernation of rock and roll music in the US until those four lovely moptops from Liverpool saved us all from Fabian and Andy Williams (yes, I know that's an overexaggeration, but work with me here). But, Buddy was already headed down the big band pop music alley before his death, so would he have really kept cranking out the three chord rock that he did so well?

Very valid point, but then again one has to wonder if rock 'n' roll would have been the juggernaut it was had Hank have lived. It was rock and roll that forced country's hand to become more MOR by adding strings to the music. As far as that goes, I just can't see Hank adapting to the countrypolitan style. So many rock artists cite him as an influence that I could see him turning rockabilly or straight rock and roll. Listen to the overdubs of "Roly Poly" and "Fool About You" as evidence; simple guitar/vocal solos that were turned into rocking numbers. Hank would have fit right in with Presley and Holly.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Very valid point, but then again one has to wonder if rock 'n' roll would have been the juggernaut it was had Hank have lived. It was rock and roll that forced country's hand to become more MOR by adding strings to the music. As far as that goes, I just can't see Hank adapting to the countrypolitan style. So many rock artists cite him as an influence that I could see him turning rockabilly or straight rock and roll. Listen to the overdubs of "Roly Poly" and "Fool About You" as evidence; simple guitar/vocal solos that were turned into rocking numbers. Hank would have fit right in with Presley and Holly.

I actually always point to "Rockin' Chair Money" as having the seeds for Rock and Roll. Dub a three piece drum kit and some electric guitar onto it and it would sound no less rock than the average Bill Haley number.

Even as a vocal and acoustic demo, it just has that early rock and roll groove to it.

 

[Radioman970]

We have a station that used to be so excellent years ago. You never knew if you'd hear the latest song from George Strait or if you'd hear Elvis or Hank. They still had 78's on hand! These days it's nothing but the same cookie cutter nonsense that every other station plays, yet they want to hawk their "legendary" status in commercials. I asked one of the DJ's one day when I saw him out why he never played any of the old stuff like they used to do. He said they still had everything they had before, except now Hank Williams and Roy Acuff are stuck on a shelf in the station and he's not allowed to touch it.

yeah, this sounds familiar. Years ago our then goldie oldies AM station had a very short southern gospel show I hosted for years. It was pretty much my last task before wrapping up the day so I looked forward to it. Started out playing these wonderful old record albums, just whatever I wanted. I'd look at those album covers and laugh at the pictures or just get nostalgic for country living with some of the pictures, play the music on turntables, take requests from old people, etc. We joked that every time we read an obit we lost a listener to that short program. My boss suddenly decided the albums were too scratchy (not true, they sounded as they should) and he told me to only use the limited CD collection that was mostly lame to tolerable 90s stuff. I was able to take those old albums home and still have them. The whole station switched to unnerving right wing talk. Luckily I only have to hear it when I pass by the door to use the can.

 

[Steve...O]

Very valid point, but then again one has to wonder if rock 'n' roll would have been the juggernaut it was had Hank have lived. It was rock and roll that forced country's hand to become more MOR by adding strings to the music. As far as that goes, I just can't see Hank adapting to the countrypolitan style. So many rock artists cite him as an influence that I could see him turning rockabilly or straight rock and roll. Listen to the overdubs of "Roly Poly" and "Fool About You" as evidence; simple guitar/vocal solos that were turned into rocking numbers. Hank would have fit right in with Presley and Holly.

Hank would have been just fine. Want proof? Just think of all the times his records have been revived through the years in all genres. Cold Cold Heart. You Win Again. I'm So Lonesome. Your Cheating Heart. These and more have been recorded by Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, BJ Thomas, and many more. The point is that he chose timeless material.

Sucessful singers also adapt. Conway Twitty didn't get 55 #1s singing the same style. He changed with the times while maintaining artistic integrity. George Jones started off as a Hank/Acuff wanna be singing honky tank stuff stuff like Why Baby Why but found a way to chart records into the new millennium. Eddy Arnold also went from sappy Honky Tonk to a new and even more successful career during the Nashville Sound era.

What we don't know, and will never know, is whether Hank's self destructive behavior could have been successfully overcome or if it would have caught up with him in his 30s or 40s.