Written by Fantasma el Rey
Nearly sixty years have gone by since the world lost Hank Williams Sr. yet his haunting voice and music continue to tug at our souls and pull us into the dark night of his own, expressed in his songs and the way he delivered them. Time Life has finally put out The Unreleased Recordings of Hank Williams. These recordings, drawn from remaining acetates cut in 1951 for his fifteen-minute radio show sponsored by Mother’s Best Flour on WSM Nashville, were to air while he was on the road touring and unable to make the 7:15am start time Monday through Friday. These 54 offerings of Hank’s heart show a different side of the man and allow us to see a bit further into his tragically short life.
His career was truly meteoric; he came on fast and burned out quick. A star of The Grand Ole Opry, the first “rock star” some say, he was on top of the country music world in 1951 and his future looked to be even brighter as he began to tackle the pop charts. By this time Hank had already had hit records with “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Cold, Cold Heart” while bigger hits would follow in the remaining two years of his life. Those last two years would yield the tunes folks remember most, “Hey, Good Looking,” “Jambalaya (On The Bayou),” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” to name a few but here we have Hank in 1951 just as his music’s popularity rises and his personnel life falls apart all by the age of twenty nine.
His wife Audrey would soon leave him due to his out-of-control, binge drinking brought on by his exhausting touring schedule which called for him to be back in Nashville every Saturday night to perform live on the Opry, which eventually kicked him out too. Hank’s longtime back pain would also become increasingly unbearable, forcing a long postponed operation. No doubt made worse by the back brace he had to wear while touring and traveling in an overcrowded automobile. Some of that pain shows on these recordings at times ever so slightly. But as with his studio recordings he left his music behind for us to enjoy as much as he did and to bring joy to our hearts and relieve our pain as he did through music and singing.
Hank Williams’ sound covers a lot of ground, pulling from hillbilly, western swing, bluegrass and gospel. His voice is the perfect vehicle to put it all together and carry it forth to the masses. His vocals are a bit constricted to squeeze out a few lines but for the better part of his recordings, especially on this set, his warm baritone stands out conveying the darkness and sorrow he hid well yet let show in his vocal delivery and songwriting. Guitar solos are minimal (although he does allow it to take off a time or two), the upright bass fiddle plunks and plucks steadily as fiddles sway, and the steel guitar fills in the sound of weeping sorrow all with Hank leading the way with his acoustic pickin’ and strummin’.
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