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Memorial Album (Hank Williams Album)
''Memorial Album'' is the first Hank Williams LP issued by MGM Records after the singer's death on New Year's Day 1953. Background ''Memorial Album'' is significant for being the first MGM retrospective of Hank Williams' career. Only two LPs had been released under Williams' name during his lifetime, largely because singles were most valued in the country music business, but demand for his work increased after his death. Colin Escott observed in his 2004 book ''Hank Williams: The Biography'', "The emerging LP market was a godsend. MGM could endlessly repackage Hank's recordings, and ublishing companyAcuff-Rose could pitch his songs to other artists as LP filler." While '' Hank Williams Sings'' (1951) and '' Moanin' the Blues'' (1952) had contained several non-charting B-sides dating back to Hank's earliest recordings with the label, ''Memorial Album'' featured many of his most recent hits singles. Several versions of the album were released by MGM. Track listing All songs wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 55 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached No. 1 (three posthumously). Born and raised in Alabama, Williams was given guitar lessons by African-American blues musician Rufus Payne in exchange for meals or money. Payne, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb, had a major influence on Williams' later musical style. Williams began his music career in Montgomery in 1937, when producers at local radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. He formed the Drifting Cowboys backup band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote his time to his career. When several of his band members wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cold, Cold Heart
"Cold, Cold Heart" is a country music and pop song written and first recorded by Hank Williams. This blues ballad is both a classic of honky-tonk and an entry in the ''Great American Songbook''. Hank Williams version Williams adapted the melody for the song from T. Texas Tyler's 1945 recording of "You'll Still Be in My Heart," written by Ted West in 1943. In the Williams episode of ''American Masters'', country music historian Colin Escott states that Williams was moved to write the song after visiting his wife Audrey in the hospital, who was suffering from an infection brought on by an abortion she had carried out at their home unbeknownst to Hank. Escott also speculates that Audrey, who carried on extramarital affairs as Hank did on the road, may have suspected the baby was not her husband's. Florida bandleader Pappy Neil McCormick claims to have witnessed the encounter: The first draft of the song is dated November 23, 1950, and was recorded with an unknown band on Decemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Albums
Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugoslavia. ** The CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the UFO phenomenon. * January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying. * January 19 – 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into ''I Love Lucy'', to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tune into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken. * January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn in as the 34th President of the United States. * January 24 ** Mau Mau Uprising: Rebels in Kenya kill the Ruck family (father, mother, and six-year-old son). ** Leader of East Germany Walter Ulbricht announces that agriculture will be collectiviz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curley Williams
Curley Williams (b. Dock Williams, June 3, 1914 – d. September 5, 1970) was an American country and western musician and songwriter from Georgia. His best-known song is "Half As Much". He was admitted to thAtlanta Country Music Hall of Famein 1999. Life and career Williams was born near Cairo, Georgia and was raised on the family farm in Grady County, Georgia. His father and grandfather were fiddle players, which was the instrument Williams himself took up. Williams was given the name "Dock" because he was a seventh son and a tradition held that seventh sons became doctors. Around 1940 Williams debuted with a band named ''The Santa Fe Trail Riders'' on WPAX in Thomasville, Georgia. In December 1942 the band was invited to join the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. Because Andrew Smik was already well-known performing as "Doc Williams" with his band The Border Riders, George D. Hay suggested that Williams change his first-name from Dock to Curley, for his curly hair. Hay also su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Half As Much
"Half as Much" is an American pop standard song written by Curley Williams in 1951. It was recorded by country music singer Hank Williams in 1952 and reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Country Singles chart. Hank Williams version According to the 2004 book ''Hank Williams: The Biography'', Williams was not too enamoured with "Half as Much" and only recorded it at producer Fred Rose's insistence. Williams recorded it at a session at Castle Studio in Nashville on August 10, 1951. He was backed by Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), Sammy Pruett (lead guitar), Howard Watts (bass), probably Jack Shook (rhythm guitar), and either Owen Bradley or Fred Rose on piano. "Half as Much" is notable for being the only Hank Williams recording to feature a solo barroom piano at its conclusion. Two months after Williams recorded "Half as Much," Curly Williams recorded it for Columbia Records, so Rose held back Hank's release until March 28, 1952, to clear the way for Cur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hey Good Lookin' (song)
"Hey, Good Lookin'" is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and his version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2003, CMT voted the Hank Williams version No. 19 on ''CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music''. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists. Background The Hank Williams song "borrowed heavily" from the 1942 song with the same title written by Cole Porter. The lyrics for the Williams version begin as a come on using double entendres related to food preparation ("How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?"). By the third and fourth verses, the singer is promising the object of his affection that they can become an exclusive couple ("How's about keepin' steady company?" and "I'm gonna throw my date book over the fence"). Williams was friendly with musician Jimmy Dickens. Having told Dickens that Dickens needed a hit record if he was going to become a star, Williams said he would write it, and penned "Hey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Could Never Be Ashamed Of You
"I Could Never Be Ashamed of You" is a song written and recorded by Hank Williams. It was released as the B-side of " I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" on MGM Records in November 1952. Background "I Could Never Be Ashamed of You" is widely regarded as a song Hank Williams wrote for Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar, whom he married on October 18, 1952 in Minden, Louisiana. In the episode of ''American Masters'' about Hank's life, singer Billy Walker explained, "Billie Jean was Faron Young's girlfriend. Faron had just moved to Nashville. Billie Jean and Faron was out clubbin' around and Hank Williams joined them. And they went to the lavatory and Hank pulled out a gun on Faron and said, "Boy, this is gonna be my girlfriend from now on." In the same film, Ray Price, who shared an apartment with Williams, recalls Hank using Billie Jean as leverage to try and win back his ex-wife Audrey Williams: "He told Audrey, 'If you don't come back to me I'm gonna marry Billie Jean.' Wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You Win Again (Hank Williams Song)
"You Win Again" is a 1952 song by Hank Williams. In style, the song is a blues ballad and deals with the singer's despair with his partner. The song has been widely covered, including versions by Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, the Grateful Dead, Charley Pride, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. Background Hank Williams recorded "You Win Again" on July 11, 1952—one day after his divorce from Audrey Williams was finalized. Like "Cold, Cold Heart," the song was likely inspired by his tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife, as biographer Colin Escott observes: It might have been no more than coincidence, but, in the absence of hard evidence to the contrary, the songs cut that day after Hank's divorce seem like pages torn from his diary...Its theme of betrayal had grown old years before Hank tackled it, but, drawing from his bottomless well of resentment, he gave it a freshness bordering on topicality. In Williams' original draft, the song had been titled "I Los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaw-Liga
"Kaw-Liga" ( ) is a country music song written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose. Background "Kaw-Liga" is one of just a handful of songs that Williams wrote with Fred Rose, who produced his records and published his songs through his company Acuff-Rose. Rose often "doctored" the songs Williams composed, making suggestions and revisions, with biographer Roger M. Williams (no known relation) noting that Rose's contribution to Williams' songs was probably craftsmanship, whereas Williams' was genius. Roy Acuff later recalled: Content The song tells the story of a wooden Indian, Kaw-Liga, who falls in love with an "Indian maid over in the antique store" but does not tell her so, being, as the lyrics say: The Indian maid waits for Kaw-Liga to signal his affection for her, but he either refuses or is physically/emotionally unable (interpretations vary) to talk. Some interpret Kaw-Liga as a stoical Native American stereotype; however, the subject of masculine pride and emotional h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Settin' The Woods On Fire
"Settin' the Woods on Fire" was the A-side of a single by Hank Williams (opposed by "You Win Again (Hank Williams song), You Win Again"), released in September 1952. The song reached number 2 on U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs, Most Played by Jockeys chart and number 2 on the Hot Country Songs, National Best Sellers chart. Background Although it sounds remarkably like a Hank Williams composition, "Settin' the Woods on Fire" was written by Hank's song publisher and producer Fred Rose (songwriter), Fred Rose and an elderly New York City, New Yorker, Ed G. Nelson. Williams recorded it with Rose producing at Castle Studio on June 13, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, with Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), and Harold Bradley (guitarist), Harold Bradley (rhythm guitar), while it is speculated that Chet Atkins played lead guitar and Ernie Newton (bass player), Ernie Newton played bass. The song peaked at number 2, while the B-side, "You Win Again (Hank Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Your Cheatin' Heart
"Your Cheatin' Heart" is a song written and recorded by country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1952. It is regarded as one of country's most important standards. Williams was inspired to write the song while driving with his fiancée from Nashville, Tennessee, to Shreveport, Louisiana. After describing his first wife Audrey Sheppard as a "Cheatin' Heart", he dictated in minutes the lyrics to Billie Jean Jones. Produced by Fred Rose, Williams recorded the song on his last session at Castle Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 23. "Your Cheatin' Heart" was released in January 1953. Propelled by Hank Williams' recent death during a trip to a New Year's concert in Canton, Ohio, the song became an instant success. It topped ''Billboard's'' Country & Western chart for six weeks, while over a million units were sold. The success of the song continued. Joni James' version reached number two on ''Billboard's'' Most Played in Jukeboxes the same year, while Ray Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B-sides
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company intends to be the initial focus of promotional efforts and radio airplay and hopefully become a hit record. The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that typically receives less attention, although some B-sides have been as successful as, or more so than, their A-sides. Use of this language has largely declined in the 21st century as the music industry has transitioned away from analog recordings towards digital formats without physical sides, such as CDs, downloads and streaming. Nevertheless, some artists and labels continue to employ the terms ''A-side'' and ''B-side'' metaphorically to describe the type of content a particular release features, with ''B-side'' sometimes representing a "bonus" track or other material. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
