I was raised in a home with country music.  I hadn't listened, to any degree, to country music since I had left home.  Although I can't stand rap music, with the exception of a few "clean" lyric rap songs I've heard (and they are exceptions).  Out of the 70's, I like the music of Ann Murray and the Statler Brothers.  But then, I pretty much put them in the category of "soft country-rock."

Because of my childhood roots, I have always been fond of the music of Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Eddy Arnold, Roger Miller, and of course Hank Williams.  Recently, since June 28, 2000, I've been listening to a lot of Hank Williams music.  "Lovesick Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me?", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", and "Your Cheatin' Heart" to name a few hit songs by the "hillbilly Shakespeare" and the "forefather of rock and roll".  I can't really explain my recent interest and fascination with this music!  Maybe some nostagia and longing for "simpler times" and simpler songs?

Being a Christian, I also enjoy hearing Hank Williams sing gospel songs.  Many gospel songs he wrote himself like "Calling You" and "I Saw the Light".

I guess I am even as much an eclectic chameleon in music as I am in political thought.  I don't think anyone can truly love the history of music without including some study of these early giants of country and learn of their influence on such rockers as Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley or even Jimmy Buffett!

The music of Hank Williams has been covered by many of today's top country and rock artists.  Even watching a film like "The Shawshank Redemption" will expose one to the music of Hank Williams.  In the library scene, an inmate listens to Hank Williams singing "Lovesick Blues" on a record he puts on, about an hour and ten minutes or so into the movie.  I've been told that the song "Honky Tonkin'" is played up in space in the movie "Apollo 13".  It is on the official movie soundtrack.

In the Academy Award nominated 1971 movie "The Last Picture Show", set in a small Texas town at the beginning of the 50's; the music of Hank Williams pretty much dominates the soundtrack of the movie as the radio is on throughout many scenes of the movie and Hank's songs are playing more than half the time. This is not a case of "background" music, but rather "foreground" music, as Hank Williams' hits sometimes equal the volume of the conversations of the characters. "The Last Picture Show" is rated R for brief nudity and some adult themes.

An enjoyable "tribute movie" to watch is "Hank Williams:  The Show He Never Gave", starring Sneezy Waters as Hank Williams with Sneezy Waters singing the Hank Williams songs himself (available on VHS from Amazon.com).  David Church is a current touring Hank Williams Tribute Artist with a near duplicate Hank Williams voice.  More information can be learned about booking David Church or purchasing his tribute album "A Legend Froze In Time" by visiting the David Church web site:
Go to www.davidchurch.net and read about, see pictures of, watch a video of, and listen to some music of David Church.

The new 2 CDs compilation release of Hank's songs titled "The Ultimate Collection" has 42 songs.  28 of the songs on "The Ultimate Collection" are also on the "40 Greatest Hits" shown and mentioned above.  12 songs were dropped from the "40 Greatest Hits" set and 14 other songs were added.  All in all, I believe this new release is a great place to start listening to the music of Hank Williams, Sr. with the 50 year anniversary of his death coming up on January 1, 2003.

The following listings show the 12 songs that were dropped and the 14 songs that were added; as well as the 28 duplicate songs in comparing this new 2 CDs collection to the old 2 CDs collection.  Those songs in black are also on the 1 CD "20 Greatest Hits" collection.  Songs followed by an asterisk * are the songs I chose for my ideal 74 minutes 1 CD and songs followed by two asterisks ** are the additional songs I chose for my ideal 90 minutes cassette tape (see below for Wolf's "Best of Hank Williams").  The six songs added that have a ++ following them are not even on the 3 CDs "Hank Williams: Original Singles Collection", but are on the 10 CDs Boxed Set called "The Complete Hank Williams":

For those who don't feel 20 Hits, 40 hits or even 42 Hits would be enough of Hank, there are two Boxed Sets:  "Hank Williams Original Singles Collection" (3 CDs) containing 84 songs (pictured to the left).      All 27 of the songs I list above on my ideal 1 CD "Best of Hank Williams" are included on the 3 CDs Original Singles Collection.  So are the additional 7 songs listed for my ideal cassette tape.      For those who truly have the lovesick blues, there is the magnum opus 10 CDs Boxed Set called "The Complete Hank Williams" (pictured to the right) which has 225 songs, including those recorded under the name Luke the Drifter and those he recorded with his wife Audrey, as well as some live Grand Ole Opry and other radio program recordings.  That's a lot of Hank!

Complete 10 CDs Boxed Set

Of late, because of my affection for the music of Hank Williams, I have been studying the history of the early traditional country singers and honky tonkers like Lefty Frizzell, Ernest Tubb (pictured to the left), Hank Snow, and Webb Pierce (an early Ray Price could be thrown into this mix).  Anyone passionately studying the life, person, lyrics and music of Hank Williams, eventually gets curious about the singers who have tried to carry the mantle of this traditional country giant.  This natually leads to the works of singers like George Jones, George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Randy Travis.  These are some of the more popular traditional and neo-traditional country singers of today.

I don't know where this country music "investigation" will lead, but it is an enjoyable diversion from the popular, rock and classical music road I had carefully travelled up to this point in my life.  I can listen to rock influenced country singers, but my heart is with the traditional honky tonk branch of country.  I grew up enjoying the crossover artists like Buck Owens, Ann Murray, the Statler Brothers, Lynn Anderson and several others who occasionally entered the pop charts.  And some of these songs and artists are very enjoyable, but give me a little "twang" in the voice and I like it even more.

This path has also caused me to re-examine the music of Buddy Holly and Gene Pitney.  Two singers I have always enjoyed, but haven't been as close to my musical heart as they are now.  Anyone who has not listened to some of Gene Pitney's top songs ("Half Heaven-Half Heartache", "Mecca" & "24 Hours From Tulsa", to name just three such songs) has simply missed the boat.  And Buddy Holly can be fully appreciated by just listening to "Rave On" once or twice.  After that, the rest of his songs fall right into place.  The timing that Holly had with his delivery is exceptional.  Hank Williams also has this timing in delivery, but Williams delivers an emotional feeling in his music that has not been matched to this day, in my humble opinion.

There is the "great fear" that I could be turning into a country music listener.  This may end up being more of a fear for pure head-bangers, but it is not really a great fear with me.  I am very eclectic in my music interests as with other areas.  This page will keep the drop-in web viewers up-to-date as to where this hillbilly music fascination will eventually lead.  Only time will tell!

Following are 52 other songs that I know and that I personally like that made the 1992 "Country America" magazine Top 100 List -- performed by artists other than Ralph Emery's Top 10 IMPACT Country Male Acts from 1950-2000:

I've only listed the 93Q songs that are not on the Country America list, that I am familiar with and that I especially like.  For the complete listing of both compilations, one would have to look up "top 100 country songs" on a good search engine like Google. 93Q may or may not show the list on their site any longer, you would have to check that out or inquire about it, but it can be found out on the Internet, where someone mirrored it in the past.

With my love of the music of Hank Williams Sr., I first listened to Hank Jr. singing the major songs of Hank Williams.  His interpretation of his dad’s songs was top notch.  As a small boy, he went up on the stage and imitated his dad for many a pleased crowd of people.  I’ll be honest here.  The first time I listened to the music of Hank Jr. when he began venturing out on his own songs and incorporated his own unique style, I thought it was a little too loud and “rowdy”.  I thought Hank Williams Jr. was too much of an “outlaw”.

It didn’t take long for me to see that being born the son of a famous and popular performer like Hank Williams, definitely gave Bocephus a big boost in his own career.  But was it the name alone that was the big boost?  I believe the name obviously helped, but it was the genes he inherited from his dad and his own perseverance in developing that inherited talent that has made Hank Williams Jr. the dynamic country artist that he has become.

Hank Williams Jr. may be standing in the shadows, but the applause you hear when Hank Williams Jr. performs is for him! Yes, I think he has been successful in his attempt to carry on the name of Hank Williams and the family tradition.
 

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