Category Archives: Country

My Favourite Songs About Hank Williams


Painted woodcut of Hank Williams by Lisa Brawn

Hank Williams is one of the most influential songwriters in music, be it rock’n roll, blues or country. A lot of singer/songwriters influenced by him pay their respects by singing his songs, doing tribute songs or mention him in their lyrics. There are literally hundreds of songs referencing Hank Williams one way or another.

Here’s a list of some of my favourite songs about the great legendary Hank Williams:

There is no contest for the top spot, it has to be

1) Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen:

“…Oh in the Tower of Song
I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the Tower of Song”

From Leonard Cohen that is very high praise indeed!

London 2008:

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Willie Nelson: Phases and Stages – classic albums

willie nelson phases and stages

..this is not just one of Willie Nelson’s best records, but one of the great concept albums overall.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

As I’m going to visit Muscle Shoals, Alabama next month, and thus I need to post some articles about the best albums recorded there, this is one of many.

Bloody Mary Morning:

It’s a Bloody Mary morning,
Baby left me without warning
Sometime in the night
So I’m flyin’ down to Houston
Forgetting her’s the nature of my flight

Continue reading Willie Nelson: Phases and Stages – classic albums

Video of the day: My Nashville by Bob Harris BBC documentary 2014

MyNashville

My Nashville by Bob Harris BBC documentary 2014

‘Whispering’ Bob Harris journeys to America’s country music capital to show why Nashville became Music City USA.

From the beginnings of the Grand Ole Opry on commercial radio, through the threatening onset of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, up to the modern mainstream hits of Music Row, this is the story of how music has shaped Nashville and why today it’s a place of pilgrimage for musicians from all over the world.

As well as iconic venues on Lower Broadway and the historic hit factories of 16th Avenue, Bob also explores the East Nashville music scene and discovers a rebellious flip-side to the country coin. With exclusive performances from the city’s top talent, Bob Harris explains why country music owes its enduring success to Nashville’s unique nurturing community of songwriters.

Very nice archival footage combined with fresh insights from today’s  players. He looks not just at the music but all the stuff that goes on around it, the shops, the posters and the studios of Nashville.

Performances from:
Emmylou Harris, John Fullbright, Ashley Monroe, Jason Isbell, Angel Snow and more

Interviews with:
Emmylou Harris, Duane Eddy, Dave Stewart and Rosanne Cash, Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church and more

Continue reading Video of the day: My Nashville by Bob Harris BBC documentary 2014

December 26: Jay Farrar was born in 1966

jay farrar

As a founding member of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, songwriter Jay Farrar helped popularize the alt-country movement of the 1990s. He also launched a solo career during the following decade, making it plain that his musical ambitions stretched far beyond the retro-leaning twang of his contemporaries.
~Mark Deming (allmusic.com)

“Woody has always been a reference point for me, as well a source of inspiration along the way. I was brought up around his music at a pretty early age, … The reference in the song relates more to the way my own children have become fans, I guess (laughs). If there was no Highway 61, we may not have had Bob Dylan or Leadbelly .”
~Jay Farrar

Son Volt – Windfall (Austin City Limits, 1996)

Continue reading December 26: Jay Farrar was born in 1966

December 13: Happy 60th birthday John Anderson

john anderson

Except maybe for Ricky Skaggs, this folksy eccentric sings fewer embarrassing songs than anyone in country music. Unlike Skaggs, he plays at innocence rather than striving for it, which is why there always seems to be something comic bubbling under the eager warmth of his voice. And as you soon learn from lyrics like “Black Sheep” and “Swingin’,” he’s unlike Skaggs in another way as well: he’s not a moralistic tight-ass
~Robert Christgau (about JA’s “Greatest Hits”)

Swingin’

Continue reading December 13: Happy 60th birthday John Anderson