Westbury Memorial Public Library, Westbury, NY * December 16, 2022 1. “Night Train to Memphis” (Roy Acuff, 1942). Roy Acuff It’s impossible to say for sure who did what on this song, since it has three co-writers: Owen Bradley, Marvin Hughes and Beasley Smith. However, Bradley and Hughes were both best known as musicians, while … Continue reading Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s ‘An Afternoon in the Country’
What Walt’s Up To
Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s ‘Hanks a Lot”
Voorhies Hall, Bay View, Michigan * July 20, 2022 “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 … Continue reading Program Notes: Tennessee Walt’s ‘Hanks a Lot”
‘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
2 States, 12 Days and 90 Years: It’s Time for a Party
I spent a chunk of last summer toying with the idea of staging a country-music festival this summer to mark the 90th anniversary of the Bristol Sessions, aka the Big Bang of Country Music. Sadly, Country 90 NYC (as it was provisionally called) didn’t come together; we’ll just have to wait for 2027 and Country … Continue reading 2 States, 12 Days and 90 Years: It’s Time for a Party
Walt Across Texas
Texas got its first Tennessee Walt sighting this past Sunday, Feb. 21, when Walt was a featured guest artist in Gilbert & Sullivan and Me, a lecture/concert presented by noted Gilbert & Sullivan expert Gayden Wren under the auspices of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin. An appreciative audience of Savoyards found a bit … Continue reading Walt Across Texas
Tennessee Walt 