Friday, December 12, 2008
From Dallasmusic.com
Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings
Imagine that it's 7:15 a.m. in January 1951. People are cooking biscuits, milking cows, driving to work or doing whatever they did on a daily basis, and they're treated to a fifteen minute radio show starring Hank Williams. He sang songs he never recorded. He sang his own hits and other people's hits. He talked about his favorite songs, where he had been, and where he was going. Whatever came into his head. It was kind of like having him join you at your breakfast table for a good visit and a little pickin' and singin'.
If you weren't tuned in to WSM radio between 7:15 and 7:30 back then you would never have heard these recordings, and if you were you finally have a chance to hear them again. They're guaranteed to take you right back to that simpler time.
As the story goes WSM radio was purging its library of unusable material which included 72 shows featuring Hank Williams. It was decided that the only owner of these shows was the estate of Hank Williams: Hank's children Hank Jr. and Jett Williams. They, with the help of Time Life have released them to the public unaltered, undubbed and beautifully restored. The compilation comes beautifully packaged with a forty page book telling the whole story and a little about the history of each of the 53 tracks. Along with the interesting stories the book offers a pictoral history which helps tell the story of the legend of country music's first superstar. This a must for any collector and would make a perfect gift for the holiday season. Don't forget to pick one up for yourself as well.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Hank Blog Critics Review
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Hank performs ten Roy Acuff covers on the Unreleased Recordings
by Brian Turpen
It is pretty well known that Hank had high regard and respect for Roy Acuff. In fact, on his shows during his early years, Hank was known to often sing songs by his idol. Hank is also known to have stated, “I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin’ like myself.” Even though Hank may have stopped trying to sing like Acuff, he didn’t stop singing songs Acuff had recorded. On the surviving Mother’s Best shows, there are many examples of Hank reviving Acuff’s tunes, or tunes associated with Acuff.
Time-Life’s compilation, Hank Williams, the Unreleased Recordings, includes 54 songs from the 72 surviving Mother’s Best shows, and 10 of those are associated with Acuff. Clearly, Hank’s respect for Acuff was still high even though his star had long eclipsed his idol’s. Hank gladly acknowledged his roots on the Mother’s Best shows, and no one influenced him more than Roy Acuff. The ten songs associated with Acuff or previously recorded by Acuff were Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, Low And Lonely, Drifting Too Far From The Shore, The Prodigal Son, Searching For A Soldier’s Grave, Pins & Needles, Wait For The Light To Shine, The Pale Horse & His Rider, The Great Judgment Morning, and Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine. The latter has a slightly different story because it appears as though Hank demo’d the song on behalf of its writers for Acuff. It is thought that Hank did this as a favor to his producer/ music publisher, Fred Rose, and the song’s composers, Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart. Rose pitched the song to Acuff, who recorded it in September 1951.
Although these ten songs may have been put on disc by Acuff, one can tell that Hank didn’t just do covers of the song for his morning radio show. As one will notice when listening, Hank put his own indelible mark on his versions.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Latest Hank Online Reviews
Read more at Muzik Review
Hank Williams wasn't around very long to enjoy the spotlight, as he didn't come to the public's attention in a big way until 1949 and was dead four years later, so there has never been a huge library of his recordings available for fans to listen too. However, back in 1950-51 he recorded a series of radio shows that were sponsored by Mother's Best Flour, and because of his extensive touring schedule he was forced to pre-record the shows on acetate discs. It's these recordings that Time Life have used as the source for their new release Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings. The three CDs come handsomely packaged in a tall hard cover package that opens like a book. On the inside front cover are the first two CDs, followed by thirty-eight pages of photographs and text giving the history of the recordings and Williams' biography, with the third disc on the inside of the back cover.
Hank treats his audience to many popular tunes such as “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” “When The Saints Go Marching In,” and “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain.” A song or two of his studio work has traces of what will become rock ‘n’ roll. Listen to the lyrics again to “Hey, Good Looking;” you got hot rods, soda, and dancing dates. He’s only a few steps away from truly being the granddaddy of rockabilly. Check out “Cherokee Boogie,” “California Zephyr” and “a little masterpiece of nonsense,” as Hank introduces it, titled “Mind Your Own Business” with its added edgy verse about getting knocked around by the missus.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Hank Williams Blogcritics Review
Read the rest here
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
New York Times Article on The Unreleased Recordings
HANK WILLIAMS, ‘THE UNRELEASED RECORDINGS’
Many of Hank Williams’s studio records were nearly perfect, and his voice-and-guitar demos have a trudging, spooky power. But this is something new: three hours’ worth of radio performances with his band, recorded for 15-minute spots on the Nashville station WSM in 1951, at Williams’s commercial peak and before his health turned. (About a year later he would be dead.) Upbeat, he calls out to soloists in his band with satisfaction and pours himself into the performance. His wife Audrey, talentless at singing, is not here: a big plus. The repertory forms a trustworthy picture of his sound world: not just his own songs but white and black gospel, cowboy tunes, obscure contemporary nothings (“You Blotted My Happy Schooldays”), a weirdly breathtaking “On Top of Old Smoky.” And his voice! These recordings get the fullness and breadth of it, the cool, plummy croon turning to a hot laser through some trick of throat and nose. Truly one of the best records ever. (Time-Life, three CDs, $39.98.) BEN RATLIFF
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
New York Times proclaims "ONE OF THE BEST RECORDS EVER."
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