Tag Archives: Hank Williams

Hank Williams, Sound, Townes Van Zandt

Jan 1: Hank Williams died in 1953 and Townes Van Zandt died in 1997

Townes and Hank

Hank Williams died in 1953 and Townes Van Zandt died in 1997

Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, is regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time. Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one.Hank Williams died in 1953 and Townes Van Zandt died in 1997

John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997), best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet. Many of his songs, including “If I Needed You,” “To Live is to Fly,” and “No Place to Fall” are considered standards of their genre.

 

Continue reading Jan 1: Hank Williams died in 1953 and Townes Van Zandt died in 1997 →

Bob Dylan, Cover versions, Hank Williams

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

6 Comments

hank_williams_bob dylan

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

I believe in Hank Williams singing `I Saw the Light.’ I’ve seen the light, too.”
– Bob Dylan (1997)

Hank Williams was the first influence, I would think, I guess, for a longer period of time than anybody else.
~Bob Dylan (Bronstein Interview, Montreal, 1966)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, Feb 1965)

If it wasn’t for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Shelton, June 1978)

Check out this post: Hank Williams’s birthday

Bob Dylan has referenced Hank Williams in interviews, in books, and with music a lot of times. Williams was also mentioned in the liner notes on Dylan’s first two albums:

Bob Dylan (1962):

Bob Dylan started to sing and play guitar when he was ten. Five to six years later he wrote his first song, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot. All the time, he listened to everything with both ears — Hank Williams, the late Jimmie Rodgers, Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Carl Perkins, early Elvis Presley.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan(1963):

Among the musicians and singers who influenced him were Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, Mance Lipscomb and Big Joe Williams.

Lets start with a lovely scene from “Don’t Look Back” (1967, D. A. Pennebaker) where Bob sings Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” and “So Lonesome I Could Cry“:

“The songs of Woody Guthrie ruled my universe, but before that, Hank Williams had been my favorite songwriter, though I thought of him as a singer, first.”
– Bob Dylan (Chronicles)

Continue reading Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams →

Sound

July 11 in music history

July 11: Elvis recorded Mystery Train in 1955 (read more)

“Mystery Train” is one of Presley’s most haunting songs, a stark blues number that sounds ancient but was actually first cut only two years before by Memphis blues singer Junior Parker. Presley recorded it with the groove from the flip side of the same Parker single, “Love My Baby,” and Sun producer Phillips’ taut, rubbery echo effect made guitarist Scotty Moore’s every note sound doubled. Presley added a final verse — “Train . . . took my baby, but it never will again” — capped by a celebratory falsetto whoop that transformed a pastoral about death into a song about the power to overcome it.
~rollingstone.com

 elvis presley 1955
“You Win Again” is a 1952 song by Hank Williams (recorded July 11, 1952). In style, the song is a blues ballad and deals with the singer’s despair with his partner. “You Win Again” would peak at number ten on the Most Played in C&W Juke Boxes chart, where it remained for a single week. winagain
 Rosco Gordon (April 10, 1928 – July 11, 2002) was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1952 #1 R&B hit single, “Booted”, and two #2 singles “No More Doggin’” (1952 RPM 350) and “Just a Little Bit” (1960 Vee-Jay 332).  rosco gordon
Peter John Joseph Murphy (born 11 July 1957) is an English rock vocalist. He was the vocalist of the rock group Bauhaus, and later went on to release a number of solo albums, such as Deep and Love Hysteria. Thin, with prominent cheekbones, a baritone voice, and a penchant for gloomy poetics, Murphy is often called the “Godfather of Goth.” Peter-Murphy-Musician
 Scott G. Shriner (born July 11, 1965) is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Weezer.  Scott_Shriner

Spotify Playlist – July 11
Music Calendar

June 13 in music history

Today: Hank Williams recorded “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” in 1952 (read more)

–

“Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” (recorded 13 June 1952) is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Hank Williams that was first released in July 1952. Named for a Creole and Cajun dish, jambalaya, it spawned numerous cover versions and has since achieved popularity in a number of music genres.

 hank williams Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
 Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader, known as the “King of Swing”.  Benny_Goodman
 Clyde Lensley McPhatter (November 15, 1932 – June 13, 1972) was an American R&B singer, perhaps the most widely imitated R&B singer of the 1950s and 1960s, making him a key figure in the shaping of doo-wop and R&B. His high-pitched tenor voice was steeped in the gospel music he sang in much of his younger life. He is best known for his solo hit “A Lover’s Question”.  clyde-mcphatter
 “Mingus” (released June 13, 1979) is the tenth studio album by Joni Mitchell, and a collaboration with jazz musician Charles Mingus. Recorded in the months before his death, it would be Mingus’s final musical project; the album is wholly dedicated to him.  JoniMitchell-Mingus

Spotify Playlist – June 13
Country, Hank Williams, Music Calendar

Today: The late Hank Williams was born in 1923, 90 years ago

1 Comment

hank williams

It can be explained in just one word: sincerity. When a hillbilly sings a crazy song, he feels crazy. When he sings, ‘I Laid My Mother Away,’ he sees her a-laying right there in the coffin. He sings more sincere than most entertainers because the hillbilly was raised rougher than most entertainers. You got to know a lot about hard work. You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly. The people that have been raised something like the way the hillbilly has…. knows what he sings about and appreciates it
~Hank Williams (on the success of Country Music)

Nobody had a talent for making suffering enjoyable like Hank Williams
~Kris Kristofferson

Hank Williams was the first influence I would think.
~Bob Dylan (to Billy James, Oct 1961)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, 17 Feb 1965)

Cold Cold Heart:

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Hiram King Williams
Also known as The Lovesick Blues Boy
Lovesick
Luke the Drifter
Hank Williams, Sr.
The Hillbilly Shakespeare
Born September 17, 1923
Mount Olive, Butler County, Alabama
Died January 1, 1953 (aged 29)
Oak Hill, West Virginia
Genres Country, Western, gospel,blues, honky-tonk, folk
Occupations Songwriter
Musician
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1937–1952
Labels Sterling, MGM
Associated acts Drifting Cowboys
Audrey Williams
Website www.hankwilliams.com

Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time. Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one.

From allmusic – Stephen Thomas Erlewine:

Hank Williams is the father of contemporary country music. He was a superstar by the age of 25; he was dead at the age of 29. In those four short years, he established the rules for all the country performers who followed him and, in the process, much of popular music. Hank wrote a body of songs that became popular classics, and his direct, emotional lyrics and vocals became the standard for most popular performers. He lived a life as troubled and reckless as that depicted in his songs. ….  read more @ allmusic.com

Legacy:

  • Alabama governor Gordon Persons officially proclaimed September 21 “Hank Williams Day”
  • In 1961, Williams was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
  • he was inducted in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1985
  • In 1987, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame under the category Early Influence
  • He was ranked second in CMT’s 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash
  • His son, Hank Jr., was ranked on the same list
  • In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked him number 74 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
  • In 2011 Williams’s 1949 MGM number one hit, “Lovesick Blues,” was inducted into the Recording Academy Grammy Hall Of Fame.
  • In 1999, Williams was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame. 
  • On April 12, 2010, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Williams a posthumous special citation that paid tribute to his “craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.” 
  • Keeping his legacy, Williams’s son, Hank Williams, Jr., daughter Jett Williams, grandson Hank Williams III, and granddaughters Hilary Williams and Holly Williams are also country musicians.

Lovesick Blues:

Hey Good Lookin’:

Album of the day – 40 Greatest Hits (1979):

hank williams 40 greatest hits

–

Check out:

–

Other September 17:

Continue reading Today: The late Hank Williams was born in 1923, 90 years ago →