March 13, 2021 “Honky Tonking” (Hank Williams, 1947) Williams actually recorded and released this song twice in consecutive years, once for the low-budget, no-royalties Sterling Records in 1947 and again for the far more professional MGM Records in January 1948. Sterling didn’t have much distribution, so the MGM recording is the version almost everybody knows … Continue reading Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s ‘A Year in a Distant Country’
Songwriting
Ode to Billy Joe
One morning in 1968, a scruffy-looking 29-year-old toting a guitar made his way onto westbound Route 40 somewhere in Texas, looking to thumb a ride to Los Angeles. Despite his best efforts, however, hundreds of drivers passed him by. Tiring of getting nowhere, the impatient hitchhiker crossed the highway and took a shot at a … Continue reading Ode to Billy Joe
Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s The Other Great American Songbook
North Babylon Public Library, January 26, 2021 “Setting the Woods on Fire” (Hank Williams, 1952) Written by Fred Rose and Edward G. Nelson, this is a great example of why many people said that Fred Rose could write a Hank Williams song better than anyone, even Williams himself. Since the song first hit the airwaves, … Continue reading Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s The Other Great American Songbook
Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s Bristol and Beyond: The Birth of Country Music
Bethpage Public Library, January 24, 2021 “Keep on the Sunny Side” (Carter Family, 1928) Songwriters get their ideas from all over, but the best ones keep their ears open, knowing that any random phrase they hear might be the germ of a great song. In the case of lyricist Ada Blenkhorn, she had a nephew … Continue reading Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s Bristol and Beyond: The Birth of Country Music
Whisper It Loud
When people talk about the great country stars born in the 1930s, the names that come up first tend to be people like Johnny Cash (1932), Loretta Lynn (1932), Patsy Cline (1932), Willie Nelson (1933), Kris Kristofferson (1936), Waylon Jennings (1937) and Merle Haggard (1937). It was a tremendously fruitful generation of artists, and their … Continue reading Whisper It Loud
‘Tennessee Walt’s Hank Williams Birthday Party’: Program Notes
“Hey, Good-Looking” (Hank Williams, 1951). Yes, the official name is “Hey, Good Lookin’.” To understand why I don’t call it that, read my 2016 blog post, “Hank Williams’ Apostrophe: A Quest for Authenticity.” It’s not about this song specifically, but it might just as well be. Williams’ penchant for borrowing tunes and, often, some of … Continue reading ‘Tennessee Walt’s Hank Williams Birthday Party’: Program Notes
The Curious Case of Paul Gilley
It sounds like a “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” line: Who wrote Hank Williams’ greatest songs? Paul Gilley The obvious answer is that Hank Williams did. However, there are a small number of people who, quite sincerely, believe that—at least in the case of “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (1949) and “Cold, Cold Heart” … Continue reading The Curious Case of Paul Gilley
‘Tennessee Walt: An Evening in ‘A Distant Country’: Program Notes
“Waiting for a Train” (Jimmie Rodgers, 1928). Rodgers is credited with writing this song, which he absolutely didn’t do—nearly all of his songs were written by other people or (if his name is on them) adapted from older blues songs or mountain ballads, and this is no exception. It dates from no later than 19th-century … Continue reading ‘Tennessee Walt: An Evening in ‘A Distant Country’: Program Notes
Me and ‘Me and Bobby McGee’
Way before I ever got into country music—let alone started to think about performing it—I knew and loved a handful of country songs that I’d come across in one fashion or another. I didn’t necessarily recognize them as country songs, but I’d heard “Can the Circle Be Unbroken,” “The Wabash Cannonball” and “Tennessee Waltz,” and … Continue reading Me and ‘Me and Bobby McGee’
Program Notes: ‘A Distant Country 2’
“Worried Man Blues” (Carter Family, 1930). I have a theory about this song. I’m struck by the lines “I went across the river and laid me down to sleep. When I woke up, I had shackles on my feet.” Clearly the narrator has crossed a river and ended up in the wrong place, a place … Continue reading Program Notes: ‘A Distant Country 2’
