ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Hank Thompson

(Sep. 3, 1925 ~ Nov. r 6, 2007)

Career Highlights

Barn Dance Affiliate

• Big D Jamboree
• Louisiana Hayride
• National Barn Dance
• The Big Red Shindig
• Grand Ole Opry Member

Band Name: The Brazos Valley Boys

Stage Name: Hank the Hired Hand

Musical Instruments

• Gibson L-5 Guitar
• Gibson Super 400 Guitar
• Gibson J-200 Guitar

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Gilley’s Club, 2
• Hee Haw, 4
• Johnny Lee Wills Show, 3
• The Hank Thompson Show KWTX, Waco, 3
• Nashville Now, 4
• Pop Goes the Country, 4
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, 4
• The Johnny cash Show, 4
• The Porter Wagoner Show, 4
• The Wilburn Brothers Show, 4
• WKY,Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 3 

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV                                                                           Gibson J-200

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 3
• Top-10 Singles: 30
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 83
• Chart Years Active: (1948-1983)

Awards

Country Music Association

Country Music Hall of Fame -1989

Career Labels:

• Capitol Records (1948-1965)
• Warner Bros Records (1966-1967)
• Dot Records (1968-1974)
• ABC/Dot Records (1975-1978)
• MCA Records (1979-1980)

Billboard Top-10 Singles

1. Humpty Dumpty Heart -1948
2. Green Light
3. What Are We Gonna Do About.. -1949
4. Whoa Sailor
5. Soft Lips
6. The Wild Side of Life*#1 -1952
7. Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart
8. The New Wears Off Too Fast
9. No Help Wanted -1953
10. Rub-a-Dub-Dub*
11. Yesterday's Girl
12. Wake Up, Irene*
13. Breakin' the Rules -1954
14. A Fooler, A Faker
15. Honkt Tonk Girl
16. We've Gone Too Far
17. The New Green Light
18. Wildwood Flower (with Merle Travis) 1955
19. Honkt Tonk Girl
20. Breakin' In Another Heart
21. Most of All
22. Don't Take It Out on Me
23. Squaws Along the Yukon -1958
24. I've Run Out of Tomorrows
25. A Six Pack To Go* -1960
26. Oklahoma Hills -1961
27. On Tap, In the Can, Or in the Bottle -1968
28. Smoky the Bar
29. The Older the Violin, The Sweeter.. -1973
30. Who Left the Door to Heaven Open -1974

*-No. 1 Chart Single

#-Biggest Chart Single

1-Biggest Song In Country Music 1952 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wild Side of Life: The Hank Thompson Story

Henry William Thompson, known professionally as Hank Thompson, was a country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades. He sold more than 60 million records worldwide.

October 21, 1989 marked a major milestone in Thompson's career, when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. His induction was paved by many years of performing songs that kept him in the top-40 charts. Hank's chart run ended in 1982 with the accumulation of more than eighty singles.

Thompson is one of the select few country music stars who have managed to perform and record in five decades. Beginning in the late Forties, Hank and his Brazos Valley Boys began a run on Billboard and Cashbox popularity polls. From 1953 through 1966, they were voted the No. 1 Country and Western Dance Band.

Hank returned to Waco, Texas and to the radio business and set about putting together a band he dubbed the Brazos Valley Boys. They quickly became a popular band around the area and recorded their first single, Whoa Sailor for the Globe label in 1946. A few more singles followed on Bluebonnet Records, by which time Tex Ritter had become a Thompson admirer. Ritter helped hank land a record deal with Capitol in 1947.

Hank Thompson recorded his very first record, Swing Wide Your Gate of Love and Whoa Sailor, with Globe, a tiny California label, in August, 1946. Globe released the singles the following month. The recording session included Hank Thompson (vocal, guitar), Jimmy Gilliland (steel guitar), Bobby Murrell (guitar), Tommy Williams (bass guitar) and Carlisle Mills (fiddle).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hank Thompson & Capitol Records

Capitol Records was the first major record label on the West Coast and successfully competed with RCA-Victor, Columbia Records and Decca Records, all based in New York.

 In 1947, Capitol Records added him to their roster and released the single Humpty Dumpty Heart, the following year. In 1951, he hooked up with producer Ken Nelson, who would helm many of his most successful records. By 1952, Thompson was on the charts with The Wild Side of Life (which became Hank’s signature song)  - the biggest hit in country music that year. He also set attendance records at the Texas State Fair that year.

Its cynical attitude inspired an answer record by Kitty Wells called It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels, which made her the first female artist in country music history with a million-selling record. Thompson continued to score hit after hit during the '50s, including 21 songs that reached the top-20 on the country charts and five top-10 hits in 1954 alone.

By the mid-1960, Hank’s popularity had begun to wane. The public's taste was moving toward country-pop and the smooth Nashville sound and despite several more decent records, Thompson's relationship with Capitol ended in 1965.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From the mid-'60's through the late-'70's, Hank and his band traveled to all 50 states, Canada, the Far East and Europe. During the 1978s, Thompson often piloted his own plane between tour dates.

Pictured left Hank Thompson's Tour Plane.

After Hank quit Capitol Records in 1965, he moved to Warner Brothers. Records in 1966 & then to Dot Records in 1968. In the intervening years, Hank & his Brazos Valley Boys continued to play dates worldwide & logged occasional hits on record labels such as ABC, MCA & Churchill.

A savvy promoter, Hank devised a number of ways to make himself stand out from the crowd. His early-'50s television show in Oklahoma City was the first variety show broadcast in color and he was the first country artist to tour with a sound and lighting system, the first to receive corporate sponsorship and the first to record in high-fidelity stereo.

Hank also gave early breaks to musicians like guitar legend Merle Travis and female rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson. In 1961, Thompson recorded the first live album ever released in the history of country music, titled At the Golden Nugget.

In a career spanning five decades and with record sales in excess of 60 million, Hank Thompson is truly a living legend in country music. Tex Ritter said in jest of the man he helped get started as an entertainer, "Hank Thompson took a six pack of beer and a book of Mother Goose and made a career of them."

When Hank accepted his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, he said: "If this was the Horizon award, it would mean I'd have all this exciting and rewarding stuff ahead of me. That isn't to say this is the end of the line. I intend to keep doing the music I love for a long time to come." As of 1999, he was still actively touring.

Thompson's music catalog is quiet extensive. Bear Family Records released a 12CD box set on Hank, entitled Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys. The set is all of his recordings from 1946 - 1964.

Capitol Records issued Hank Thompson Collector Series (1989) and Hank Thompson & His Brazos Valley Boys(1996) with their Vintage Collections series.

Pictured left Brazos Valley Boys

Varese Sarabande Records issued The Best of Hank Thompson 1966 - 1979. On the CD are such standards as On Tap, In the Can, Or In the Bottle, The Mark of a Heel and Smoky the Bar to name a few. In 1997, Hank released a CD of new material on the Curb label, entitled Hank Thompson and Friends. He is joined on the CD by Vince Gill, George Jones and Kitty Wells and others. Any of these selections will soothe your craving for Hank Thompson music.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Capitol Records

Top-20 Singles (1948 ~ 1965)

1. Humpty Dumpty Heart (No. 2, 1948)
2. Yesterday's Mail (No. 12, 1948)
3. Green Light (No. 7, 1948)
4. What Are We Gonna Do About the Moonlight (No. 10, 1948)
5. I Find You Cheating on Me (No. 14, 1949)
6. You Broke My Heart (No. 15, 1949)
7. Whoa Sailor (No. 6, 1949)
8. Soft Lips (No. 10, 1949)
9. The Grass Looks Greener Over Yonder (No. 15, 1949)
10. The Wild Side of Life (No.1, 1952)
11. Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart (No. 3, 1952)
12. The New Wears Off Too Fast (No. 10, 1952)
13. No Help Wanted (No. 9, 1952)
14. Rub-a-Dub-Dub (No. 1, 1952)
15. Yesterday's Girl (No. 8, 1953)
16. Wake up Irene (No.1, 1953)
17. Breakin' the Rules (No. 10, 1953)
18. A Fooler, A Faker (No. 9, 1953)
19. Honky-Tonk Girl (No. 9, 1953)
20. We've Gone Too Far (No. 10, 1954)
21. The New Green Light (No. 3, 1954)
22. If Lovin' You Is Wrong (No. 12, 1955)
23. Annie Over (No.13, 1955)
24. Wildwood Flower (No.5, 1954)
25. Breakin' In Another Heart (No.7, 1955)
26. Most of All (No.6, 1955)
27. Don't Take It Out On Me (No.5, 1955)
28. Blackboard of My Heart (No.4, 1956)
29. I’m Not Mad, Just Hurt (14, 1956)
30. Rockin’In the Congo (No. 13, 1957)
31. Tears Are Only Rain (No. 14, 1957)
32. How Do You Hold a Memory (No.11, 1958)
33. Squaws Along the Yukon (No.2, 1958)
34. I've Run Out of Tomorrows (No.7, 1958)
35. Anybody's Girl (No.13, 1959)
36. A Six pack to Go (No.10, 1960)
37. She's Just a Whole Lot Like You (No., 14, 1960)
38. Oklahoma Hills (No.7, 1961)
39. Hangover Tavern (No.12, 1961)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Selected Album Discography

North of the Rio Grande, Capitol T-0618, 1956

Songs of the Brazos Valley, Capitol T-0418, 1956

Hank!, Capitol T-0826, 1957

Dance Ranch, Capitol T - 0975, 1958

Favorite Waltzes, Capitol  T - 1111, 1959

Songs for Rounders, Capitol ST - 124 , 1959

Most of All, Capitol T - 136, 1960

This Broken Heart of Mine, Capitol T - 1469, 1960

A Six Pack to Go, Capitol ST - 2460, 1961

An Old Love Affair, Capitol ST - 1544, 1961

At the Golden Nugget, Capitol ST - 1632, 1961

Cheyenne Frontier Days, Capitol ST - 1775, 1962

No. 1 Country & Western Band, Capitol DT - 1741, 1962

At the State Fair of Texas, Capitol ST - 1955, 1963

Breakin' in Another Heart, Capitol  ST - 2274, 1965

Countrypolitan Sound of Hank's Brazo Boys, Warner Brothers WS - 1679, 1967

Just an Old Flame, Capitol ST - 2826, 1967

Country Blues, Tower ST - 5120, 1968

On Tap, in the Can, or in the Bottle, Dot DLP - 25894, 1968

Hank Thompson Salutes Oklahoma,  Dot DLP - 25971, 1969

Smokey the Bar  DLP - 25932, Dot, 1969

Next Time I Fall in Love, I Won't, Dot DOS - 25991, 1971

Hank Thompson's 25th Anniversary Album, ABC/Dot DOS2 - 2000, 1971

Cab Driver: A Salute to the Mills Brothers, Dot DOS - 25996, 1972

Kindly Keep It Country, Dot DOS - 26015, 1973

Moving On, ABC DOSD - 2003, 1974

Back in the Swing of Things, ABC/Dot DOSD - 2060, 1976.

Take Me Back to Tulsa, MCA 3250, 1980

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Country Music Historian, Roots of Country Music, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. June, 2010.