ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Hank Williams

(Sep. 17, 1923 ~ Jan. 1, 1953)

Career Highlights

Barn Dance Affiliates

• Louisiana Hayride (1948-1949)
• Hadicol Caravan (1951)

Grand Ole Opry Member (1949-1952)

Stage Names

• Luke the Drifter
• The Singing Kid

Band Name

• Drifting Cowboys

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV 

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 11
• Top-10 Singles: 37
• Crossover Singles: 2
• Charted Singles: 42
• Chart Years Active: (1947-1989)

Awards

Country Music Association

Country Music Hall of Fame 1961

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987)

Career Labels:

• Sterling Records (1946)
• MGM Records (1947-1976)

Billboard Top-10 Singles

1. Move It On Over -1947
2. I'm a Long Gone Daddy -1948
3. Lovesick Blues*#@+ -1949
4. Wedding Bells
5. Never Again
6. Mind Your Own Business
7. You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)
8. My Bucket's Got a Hole in It
9. I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living -1950
10. Long Gone Lonesome Blues*
11. My Son Calls Another Man Daddy
12. Why Don't You Love Me*
13. They'll Never Take Her Love From Me
14. Why Should We Try Anymore
15. Moanin' the Blues*
16. Nobody's Lonesome For Me
17. Dear John -1951
18. Cold, Cold Heart*@
19. Howlin' at the Moon
20. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)
21. Hey Good Lookin'*
22. Crazy Heart
23. Lonesome Whistle
24. Baby, We're Really in Love
25. Honkt Tonk Blues -1952
26. Half As Much
27. Jambalaya (On the Bayou)*@$
28. Settin' the Woods on Fire
29. You Win Again
30. I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive*
31. Your Cheatin' Heart* -1953
32. Kaw-Liga*>
33. Take These Chains from My Heart*
34. I Won't Be Home No More
35. Weary Blues from Waitin'
36. Please Don't Let Me Love You -1955
37. There's a Tear in My Beeer, 1 -1989 

*-No. 1 Chart Single

#-Biggest Career Chart Single

+-2nd Biggest Chart Single in Country Music -1949

$-2nd Biggest Chart Single in Country Music -1952

>-Biggest Chart Single in Country Music -1953 

@-Gold Single 

1-With Hank Williams Jr 

Lovesick Blues: The Hank Williams Story

Listen to Lovesick Blues

Hank Williams was a singer-songwriter and musician regarded as among the greatest country music (honky-tonk) stars of all time. More than sixty years after his death, Williams ranks among the most powerfully iconic figures in American music. Iconic to the point that man and myth are inextricably entwined.

Hank set the agenda for contemporary country song craft and sang his songs with such believability that we feel privy to his world, despite the fact that he left no in-depth interviews and just a few letters. His brief life and tragic death have only compounded his appeal.

The original Drifting Cowboys band (during Hank’s heyday 1947 – 1952) was made up of Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), Hillous Butram (bass guitar) and Bob McNett (guitar), whose work will be forever associated with their "front-man," the legendary Hank Williams.

Hank 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.

Pictured left Williams performing the Mother's Best Radio Show

Hank Williams was born in Mount Olive, Alabama (AL). Hank Williams moved to Georgiana, AL where he met Rufus Payne, a black street performer who gave Williams guitar lessons in exchange for meals. Payne had a major influence on Williams' later musical style.

After moving to Montgomery, AL, Williams began his career in 1937 when WSFA radio station producers hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. Williams formed as backup the Drifting Cowboys band, which was managed by his mother. Then he ropped out of school to devote all of his time to his career.

In September 1946, Williams auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry but was rejected. After the failure of his audition, Hank and Audrey Sheppard traveled to Nashville, Tennessee (TN) to visit the recently formed label Acuff-Rose. Williams and his wife (Audrey Sheppard ) approached Fred Rose, the president of the company, during one of his habitual ping-pong games at WSM radio studios. Audrey asked Rose if her husband could sing a song for him on that moment, Rose agreed and he was interested in Williams' style.

Hank Williams signed a contract for six songs with Fred Rose, who then used those songs to sign Williams with Sterling Records. On December 11, 1946, in his first recording session, Williams recorded Wealth Won't Save Your Soul, Calling You, Never Again and When God Comes and Gathers His Jewels. The recordings Never Again and Honky Tonkin' became successful and caught the attention of MGM Records.

His first MGM single, Move It On Over had an immediate impact in the charts. The second single Honky Tonkin’ was also a success. In the summer of 1948 Williams was added to the roster of musicians on the prestigious country radio show the Louisiana Hayride.

Hank Williams' version of the song Lovesick Blues placed him at the top of the charts for four months in 1949, earning him his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in June of that year. Two more hit songs (Wedding Bells and Mind Your Own Business) followed in quick succession, prompting the Opry to overlook Williams' excessive drinking and add him to the regular cast.

Between 1949 and 1951 Williams continued to churn out hit songs: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry and its flipside My Bucket's Got A Hole In It (No. 2, 1949), Lovesick Blues (No. 1, 1949), Long Gone Lonesome Blues (No. 1, 1950), Why Don't You Love Me (No. 1, 1950), Moanin' the Blues (No. 1, 1950), Howlin' at the Moon (No. 3, 1951) and Hey, Good Lookin' (No. 1, 1951).

Pictured right, Hank Williams playing Lefty Frizell's guitar. Velma Williams Smith playing rhythm guitar

The peak of his success arrived with the release of Cold, Cold Heart (1951), a song that was originally just the B-side to the top-10 single, Dear John, but then took on a life of its own. The song gave Williams his longest stay at the top of the country charts, while its already considerable popularity was given an added boost later in the year through a pop version recorded by Tony Bennett. In the 1960s it was covered by Ray Price.

Bennett's version also reached No. 1, as well as providing its author with the most significant mainstream exposure he had received up to that point. Williams' career continued at full steam into 1952 with another series of top ten singles: Jambalaya (No. 1, 1952), Half As Much (No. 2, 1952), You Win Again (No. 10, 1952), Settin' the Woods on Fire (No. 2, 1952) and I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (No. 1, 1952)

In late December 1952, Williams returned to Montgomery, AL, attempting to recuperate, but decided to meet two prearranged show dates on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. He died en route, (Oak Hill, West Virginia ) from heart failure, aged just twenty-nine. Contrary to myth, Williams did not die with his star in the ascendant. Jambalaya had been one of the best-selling records of 1952, but while his records were topping the charts, he was so unreliable that he was reduced to playing beer halls in Texas and Louisiana.

There’s a persistent myth that he would have returned to the Opry had he not died on New Year’s Day 1953, but surviving correspondence suggests nothing more than a few more beer hall gigs. On a record released after his death, Williams sang of being pursued by the Pale Horse and His Rider.

On a home recording made shortly before his death, he directly addressed The Angel of Death. It’s impossible to escape the feeling that he lived with the spirits every day and drank in part to escape them.  Williams was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961.

Hank Williams

The Drifting Cowboy

Hank Williams set the agenda for contemporary country song craft and sang his songs with such believability that we feel privy to his world, despite the fact that he left no in-depth interviews and just a few letters. His brief life and tragic death have only compounded his appeal.

Williams, Hank Singles catalogue (1947 ~ 1989)

• Baby, We’re Really In Love (No. 4, 1951)
• Cold, Cold Heart (No. 1, 1951)
• Crazy Heart (No. 4, 1951)
• Dear John (No. 8, 1951)
• Half As Much (No. 2, 1952)
• Hey, Good Lookin' (No. 1, 1951)
• Honky Tonk Blues (No. 2, 1951)
• Honky Tonkin (No. 14, 1948)
• Howlin' at the Moon (No. 3, 1951)
• I Can’t Help It  (If I'm Still In Love With You) (No. 2, 1951)
• I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Living (No. 5, 1950)
• I Won’t Be Home No More (No. 4, 1953)
• I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (No. 1, 1952)
• I’m A Long Gone daddy (No. 6, 1948)
• I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (No. 43, 1966)
• Jambalaya  (On the Bayou) (No. 1, 1952)
• Kaw-Liga (No. 1, 1953)
• Lonesome Whistle (No. 9, 1951)
• Long Gone Lonesome Blues (No. 1, 1950)
• Lost Highway (No. 12, 1949)
• Lovesick Blues (No. 1, 1949)
• Mansion On the Hill (No. 12, 1949)
• Mind Your Own Business (No. 5, 1949)
• Moanin' the Blues (No. 1, 1950)
• Move It On Over (No. 4, 1947)
• My Bucket's Got A Hole In It (No. 2, 1949)
• My Son Calls Another Man Daddy (No. 9, 1950)
• Never Again (No. 6, 1949)
• Nobody’s Lonesome For Me (No. 9, 1950)
• Please Don’t Let Me Love You (No. 9, 1955)
• Settin' the Woods on Fire (No. 2, 1952)
• Take These Chains From My Heart (No. 1, 1953)
• They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me (No. 5, 1950)
• There’s a Tear In My Beer (No. 7, 1989)1
• Weary Blues From Waitin’ (No. 7, 1953)
• Wedding Bells (No. 2, 1949)
• Why Don't You Love Me (No. 1, 1950)
• Why Should We Try Anymore (No. 9, 1950)
• You Win Again (No. 10, 1952)
• Your Cheating Heart (No. 1, 1953)
• You’re Gonna Change (No 4, 1949)

1With Hank Williams Jr

The Health & Happiness Shows
The Health and Happiness Shows was Hank Williams' first radio series. Eight fifteen minute shows were recorded on two Sundays in October of 1949. The idea of the show came from an advertising manager, Mack Hedrick, at WSM Radio, Nashville, Tennessee. The sponsor of the shows was Dudley LeBlanc, a populist Louisiana politician and inventor of Hadacol, a foul tasting patent medicine hearlded by LeBlanc himself as a service appreciated by suffering humanity and one of the true great medical discoveries. A deal was made with the makers of Hadacol to sponsor Williams' syndicated radio series.

The Health & Happinesss Shows were recorded in 1949, when Williams' career was just taking off. Throughout the shows, Williams sounds energetic and vibrant, even during his between-song stage patter which is nearly fascinating as the music. This is how Williams won over his fans.

Backing Williams on The Health & Happiness Shows was the Drifting Cowboys Band which included Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Bob McNett (guitar), Hillous Butrum (bass guitar) and Don Helms (steel guitar). Williams' wife Audrey was present and attempted to sing a couple of songs. Grant Turner was the announcer.

Mother's Best Radio Shows

(L-R)  Howard Watts, WSM announcer “Cousin” Louie Buck, Sammy Pruett, Hank Williams, Jerry Rivers, and Don Helms. WSM Studio, 1950

Perhaps the most well known and most sought after collection in the Hank Williams catalouge are the Mother's Best Radio Shows. This collection of radio programs is considered by many to be Hank Williams' best work and were done at the peak of his career in 1951.

The programs were broadcast live between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. on WSM out of Nashville, Tennessee. Some of the shows were pre-recorded to be played on the air when Hank was out on the road. Th programs usually consisted of one country song, one instrumental and a gospel song to close the show.

Williams performs with the ease of a seasoned performer rummaging around for something to entertain the folks, enticing them to stay tuned through the commercials and to come out to his live performances.

Although recorded for later broadcast on WSM, these performances have the informality and spontaneity of live radio programs. Williams' asides are clearly unscripted and unrehearsed and at only twenty-seven (and just a couple of years from his untimely death), he married the fire of youth with the poise of artists decades his senior.

The music is an obvious goldmine, but the continuity - the commercials, ad lib asides and joshing with those in the studio - draws a distinct picture of, to quote Hank Jr. "a young man on top of his world."  

The Mother's Best Shows capture Williams' personality better than anything else known to exist and they don't paint the picture of a sad, lonesome, forlorn man hell bent on drinking and death as many books and other publications try to portray him as. In fact, it is probably the in-between song chatter that makes these recordings so great, you get a glimpse of what Hank Williams was like as a person.

The following is a listing of all 72 Mother's Best Radio Shows from 1951:

1-A1 

The Blind Child 

Blue Steel Blues 

When God Dips His Love In My Heart  

1-A2 

Where The Old Red River Flows 

Moonlight Waters 

How Can You Refuse Him Now  

1- B1 

Moanin' The Blues 

Honky Tonkin' ( Audrey) 

I'll Have A New Body 

 1-B2 

Alabama Waltz 

Fire On The Mountain 

Lord Build Me A Cabin  

2-1A 

Nowbody's Lonesome For Me 

Twin Guitar Polka 

Gathering Flowers For The Masters' Bouquet  

2-A2 

Mansion On The Hill 

I Like That Kind (Audrey) 

How Can You Refuse Him Now (Audrey)  

2-B1 

Everything's OK 

Why Should I Cry(Audrey) 

I Heard My MotherPrayin'For Me  

2-B2 

Nobody's Lonesome For Me 

Tight Wad Daddy (Audrey) 

I'll Have A New Body  

3-A1 

Move It On Over 

I'm Satisfied With Life (Audrey) 

I Saw The Light  

3-A2 

Seaman's Blues 

Blues In My Mind (Audrey) 

Something Got A Hold Of Me  

3-B1 

Blue Eyes Cryin' In The Rain 

Bonaparte's Retreat 

I'Ve Just Told Mama Goodbye  

3-B2 

On The Banks Of The Old Ponchartrain 

Blue Love (Audrey) 

Calling You  

4-A1 

My Sweet Love Ain't Around 

Model T Love (Audrey) 

Where The Soul Never Dies  

4-A2 

Pins And Needles 

Four Flusher (Audrey) 

I Heard My Mother Prayin' For Me  

4-B1 

Mind Your Own Buisness 

I Like That Kind (Audrey) 

When God Dips His Love  

4-B2 

May You Never Be Alone Like Me 

My Love For You (Audrey) 

Dear Brother  

5-A1 

They'll Never Take Her Love From Me 

Last Night I heard You Cryin' In Your Sleep ( Audrey) 

Wait For The Light To Shine 

Whistlin' Rufus  

5-A2 

Cool Water 

Orange Blossom Special 

Lonely Tombs  

5-B1 

I Just Don't Like This Kind Of Livin' 

You Don't Have To Be a Baby To Cry( Audrey) 

Jesus Remembered Me 

 5-B2 

Cold Cold Heart 

Honky Tonkin' (Audrey) 

Sally Goodin' (Hank and Louie Buck Call A Square dance)  

6-A1 

Dear John 

I'm Satified With Life (Audrey) 

Somethin Got Ahold Of Me  

6-A2 

At The First Fall Of Snow 

I Like That Kind (Audrey) 

When God Dips His Love In My Heart  

6-B1 

Wedding Bells 

Tight Wad Daddy (Audrey) 

Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies  

6-B2 

Why Don't You Love 

Blue Love In My Heart (Audrey) 

Dear Brother 

 7-A1 

Faded Love And Winter Roses 

Fire On The Mountain 

I Heard My Saviour Call  

7-A2 

Just When I Needed You 

I Can't Tell My Heart That (Johnnie and Jack ) 

Farther Along  

7- B1 

Move It On Over 

Darktown Strutter's Ball 

Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine  

7-B2 

Ther.s Nothin' As Sweet As My Baby 

Turkey In The Straw 

Wait For The Light To Shine  

8-A1 

I Can't Help It 

Panhandle Rag 

Gathering Flowers For The Masters' Bouquet 

Bill Cheatam  

8-A2 

Where The Old Red River Flows 

Blue Steel Blues 

Thirty Pieces Of Silver  

8-B1 

On Top Of Old Smokey 

Columbus Stockade Blues 

Prodigal Son  

8-B2 

May You Never Be Alone Like Me 

Arkansas Traveler 

I'll Have A New Body  

9- A1 

Next Sunday Is My Birthday 

Old Joe Clark 

Deck Of Cards  

9-A2 

Tennessee Border 

Blue Bonnet Rag 

Dear Brother 

Whistlin' Rufus  

9-B1 

Pictures From Lifes' Other Side 

Sally Goodin' 

Sing, Sing, Sing  

9-B2 

Just Waitin' 

Paradise Island 

When The Fire Comes Down From Heaven  

10-A1 

My Sweet Love Ain't Around 

I Can't Tell My Heart That (Jimmie Skinner) 

Where The Soul Of Man Never Dies  

10-A2 

I Can't Help It 

Panhandle Rag 

Drifting Too Far From The Shore  

10-B1 

Just When I Needed You 

Steel Guitar Stomp 

I'll Fly Away  

10-B2 

Cold Cold Heart 

Dance All Night, Give The Fiddler A Dram 

Old Country Church  

11-A1 

Moanin' The Blues 

Blue Steel Blus 

I Dreamed About Mama Last Night  

11-A2

 I Hang My Head and Cry 

Tennessee Wagoner 

At The Cross  

11-B1 

I Dreamed About Mama Last Night 

Black Mountain Rag 

I Heard My Saviour Call  

11-B2 

Low and Lonely 

Foolish Questions (Big Bill Lister) 

The Funeral  

12-A1 

Where The Old Red River Flows 

Orange Blossom Special 

Where He Leads Me I Will Follow  

12-A2 

If I Didn't Love You 

Panhandle Rag 

Wait For The Light To Shine  

12-B1 

I Just Don't like This Kind Of LIvin' 

Tennessee Wagoner 

Pale Horse and His Rider  

12-B2 

Hey Good Lookin' 

Alabama Jubilee 

Searching For A Soldiers' Grave 

 13-A1 

I've Been Down That Road Before 

Little Annie 

I've Got a One Way Ticket To The Sky  

13-A2 

California Zephyr 

Down Yonder 

Softly and Tenderly  

13-B1 

Lonesome Whistle 

Roadside Rag 

I'm Bound For The Promised Land  

13-B2 

I Can't Tell My Heart That 

Georgia Steel Guitar

Take My Hand Precious Lord  

14-A1 

Just Waitin' 

Eighth Of January 

From Jerusalem To Jericho  

14-A2 

Cherokee Boogie 

Columbus Stockade Blues 

A Beautiful Home  

14-B1 

Lonesome Whistle 

I Don't Love Nobody 

Great Judgement Morning  

14-B2 

I'll Sail My Ship Alone 

Little Annie 

I'll Have A New Body  

15- A1 

Dear John 

Roadside Rag 

I'll Fly Away 

Bonapartes' Retreat  

15-A2 

Cold Cold Heart 

Fire On The Mountain 

Farther Along 

15-A1 

Stars In Her Eyes 

(PSA For Veneral Disease Hank Sings and Tells The Story Radio Drama ) 

16- A1 

Quaker Oats Audition Show 

Why Don't You Love Me 

San Antonio Rose (Owen Bradley Quartet) 

HONEY Be MY Honey BEE (Beasley Smith) 

Cold Cold Heart 

Additional Shows By Date 

Feb 12, 1951 

Move It On Over 

Waltz Of The Wind (Audrey) 

I'll Have A New Body 

Feb. 13, 1951 

Faded Love and Winter Roses 

Four Flusher (Audrey) 

I Saw The Light 

Feb. 21, 1951 

Why Should We Try Any more 

Low and Lonely (Audrey) 

Jesus Died For Me 

Feb. 22, 1951 

Long Gone Lonesome Blues 

Last Night I Heard You Cryin' In Your Sleep (Audrey) 

Lonely Tombs 

Turkey In The Straw 

Feb. 23, 1951 

Dear John 

If you Want Some Lovin' (Audrey) 

I Heard My Mother Prayin' For Me 

Additional Shows By Numbers 

#146 

Mind Your Own Business 

Old Joe Clark 

I Dreamed About Mama Last Night 

#147 

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry 

Corinna, Corrinna 

I Heard My Saviour Callin' 

#150 

My Sweet Love Ain't Around 

Fire On The Mountain 

I Saw Thge Light 

#151 

You Blotted My Happy School Days 

Orange Blossom Special 

Dust On The Bible 

#156 

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You 

Sally Goodin' 

When The Saints Go Marchin' In 

#157 

Hey Good Lookin' 

Silver Bells 

I'm Gonna Sing, Sing, Sing 

Turkey in the Straw 

#158 

I Can't Help It 

Stay All Night Stay a Lil' Longer 

Lonely Tombs 

Researched, compiled and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Oct. 4, 2011.