''Generations in Song'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer–songwriter

Hank Locklin Hank Locklin (born Lawrence Hankins Locklin; February 15, 1918 – March 8, 2009) was an American country music singer-songwriter. He had 70 chart singles, including two number one hits on ''Billboard''s country chart. His biggest hits included ...

. It was originally released in 2001 on the Coldwater label and re-released in 2006 on the Slewfoot label. The album originally contained 19 tracks of solo cuts and

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

s with fellow country artists, including

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

and

Jeannie Seely Marilyn Jeanne Seely (born July 6, 1940) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She also has several acting credits and published a book. Seely found success with the Grammy Award-winning hit "Don't Touch Me" (1966) ...

. It was Locklin's first album in many years and was the twenty eighth studio project of his career. The album received positive reviews from critics following its release.

Background

Hank Locklin had his greatest commercial success during the 1950s and 1960s with several well-known songs like "

Send Me the Pillow You Dream On "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" is a country song written and recorded by Hank Locklin. The song has become a standard for the Nashville sound, and has been covered by pop, country, and bluegrass artists. Locklin first released the song in 78-di ...

," " Geisha Girl" and "

Please Help Me, I'm Falling "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" is a 1960 song written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair and first recorded by Hank Locklin. The single was Locklin's most successful recording and was his second number one on the country charts. "Please Help Me, I'm F ...

." The songs became major hits on the country charts after being released as singles and made Locklin internationally successful. After leaving his long-time record label, Locklin recorded for several small labels during the 1970s. In the decades that followed, Locklin took a recording hiatus, mostly due to a blood cell disease that forced him to receive regular transfusions. His son, Hank Adam Locklin, coaxed his father to return to the recording studio. Originally, ''Generations in Song'' was planned to be sold on television, however the plan did not materialize. Instead, the Locklin's bought out the album and recorded it themselves.

Content and recording

''Generations in Song'' was a collection of 12 duets recorded with fellow country artists. Among the artists chosen was Vince Gill, who performed "

Danny Boy "Danny Boy" is a ballad, written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and set to the traditional Irish melody of "Londonderry Air". History In 1910, in Bath, Somerset, the English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly initial ...

" alongside Locklin in a tenor harmony. Dolly Parton performed with Locklin on a remake of his hit "Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On". Also featured performing duets alongside Locklin are fellow country performers

Jan Howard Jan Howard (born Lula Grace Johnson; March 13, 1929 – March 28, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. As a singer, she placed 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' country songs chart, was a Grand Ole Opry member and was nomin ...

Jeanne Pruett Jeanne Pruett ( ) (born Norma Jean Bowman; January 30, 1937) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She also has credits as a published author. Pruett had several major hits as a music artist, but became best-known for 1973's " Sati ...

and Hank Adam Locklin. The album's material is mostly cover versions of previously-recorded country songs, such as " Hey Good Lookin'" and " Almost Persuaded." The album itself was produced by Hank Adam Locklin at the Legends Studio, located in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. To help revive the "classic" sound found on Locklin's early records, session musicians from his original 1960s LP's were chosen for the project. This included

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig," was an American session keyboard player. Having played on records for many artists, including John Stewart, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Lore ...

on piano and

Harold Bradley Harold Ray Bradley (January 2, 1926 – January 31, 2019) was an American guitarist and entrepreneur, who played on many country, rock and pop recordings and produced numerous TV variety shows and movie soundtracks. Having started as a session ...

on guitar.

Release and critical reception

''Generations in Song'' was first released on Coldwater Records in 2001. It was originally offered as a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

and contained 19 tracks in its original release. On February 10, 2004, the album was re-released on Slewfoot Records in a compact disc format again. However, only 12 tracks were included on the re-release. The album cover was also changed for the re-release of the project. Locklin and his son bought advertisement time on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

to help promote the record, making him the first country artist to do so. The project received positive reviews from critics following its release. Bruce Eder of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave ''Generations in Song'' a four-star rating in his review, calling it a "killer album". Eder was impressed by Locklin's youthful-sounding voice, commenting, "His voice sounds at least three decades fresher than it has a right to, and the harmonizing and the playing are first-rate, along with the arrangements, which makes this more than an exercise in nostalgia." Tom Netherland had a similar observation in his review of the album for ''Country Standard Time''. "Locklin's 83 years old and still singing in the same keys he did 50 years ago, back when he was first gaining national notice," he stated. Meanwhile, '' No Depression'' praised the album for its duet partnerships, calling Dolly Parton's harmony "charming". The magazine concluded by discussing the album's liner notes: "In the liner notes, he writes, 'Sing along if you want to, ’cause the louder you sing, the better I’ll sound!' Given the caliber of the artist and the musicians, that seems unlikely."

Track listing

Original release

Re-release

Personnel

All credits are adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

of ''Generations in Song'' and

. Musical personnel *

–

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Jimmy Capps – Guitar * Vinnie Ciesielski –

Horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

* Charlie Cushman –

Banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

* Vince Gill – Guest artist *

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry ...

–

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion * Herbert Hester –

Fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

* Jan Howard – Guest artist * The Carol Lee Singers – Background vocals * Billy Linneman –

Upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Brandt Locklin – Guest Artist * Hank Adam Locklin – Guest artist * Hank Locklin – Lead vocals *

Charlie McCoy Charles Ray McCoy (born March 28, 1941) is a Grammy-winning American session musician, harmonica player, and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Based in Nashville, McCoy's playing is heard on r ...

–

Harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

Weldon Myrick Weldon Myrick (born Weldon Merle Myrick; April 10, 1938 – June 2, 2014) was an American steel guitar player.Steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

* Dolly Parton – Guest artist * Jeanne Pruett – Guest artist *

Leon Rhodes Leon Rhodes (March 10, 1932 – December 9, 2017) was an American country music musician. A guitarist, he primarily played behind Ernest Tubb as part of the Texas Troubadours and later was a house band member for the television programs '' Grand ...

–

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, rhythm guitar *

–

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Technical personnel * Lou Bradley – Engineer * Hollis Flatt – Mastering *

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

– Quotes researched and compiled * Hank Adam Locklin – Producer * Jimmy Nichols – Arrangement

Release history

References

{{Hank Locklin 2001 albums Hank Locklin albums