While the biggest stars of country music today travel in limos and private jets and perform for tens of thousands, the biggest star of 1951 drove hundreds of miles a day to shows in a sedan with the bass strapped to the roof. He did a radio show Monday to Friday on a Nashville station at 7:45 AM for 15 minutes, for a measly $100 a week. And when he wanted to go on tour, he had to make sure he had the radio shows covered, which meant recording several programs in advance.
Thank goodness that happened. Most radio broadcasts of the day were live, and never taped, so lost to the ages. Hank Williams recorded on acetate records, big heavy platters, and by miracle, hours of them were rescued back in the 1960's as they were on the way to the dumpster. These are the famous Mother's Best shows, named for the flour company and sponsor of the show. They have been released in various forms before, but this is easily the best collection of them, comprising all the songs Hank sang and removing all the instrumentals, guest performances and intro music. In total, there are six CD's worth that survived, a huge chunk of music that reveals much about Williams as a performer and adds greatly to his recording legacy.
With just 15 minutes to play with, and some of that committed to shilling flour to the homebodies, there wasn't much room each broadcast. Usually you'd get a Hank hit, a cover version of some old song he knew, and then a gospel number. This was driven by the audience; the Nashville station (WSM, home of the Opry) believed its listeners would be rural, God-fearing folk, housewives setting out to make their family meals for the day, and elderly shut-ins. Often Williams would go into his Luke The Drifter personality, whom he referred to as "one of my closest relatives," and do those almost spoken word weepers that were just as popular as his honky tonk hits.
With Williams at the height of his popularity, we get most of his greatest hits, including "Lovesick Blues," "Cold Cold Heart," "Move It On Over" and "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)." Although Williams struggled with alcohol and drug problems his whole career, he was still quite reliable in these months, and the current version of his Drifting Cowboys was filled with crack players. So these are tight and high-quality versions, with the band able to shine in the recording studio, with no audience and a good instrument blend. The cover versions in particular provide many highlights. There's a fantastic version of "Cool Water," Hank and the Cowboys giving it an other-worldly, almost spooky treatment. On the old Southern hymn "Farther Along," the harmonies are gorgeous, and you can hear why it went on to become a favourite covered by Elvis, The Byrds and many more.
The one downside of the set is the occasional appearance of Hank's first wife Audrey. While she was his biggest booster, she was a mediocre singer, and their duets on the most craggy old gospel numbers can be painful at times, thanks to her. Thankfully its only those numbers where she appears, and Williams probably knew the gospel fans were used to poor singing in their churches. Other gospel numbers without Audrey are striking, Williams able to croon classics such as "Softly and Tenderly" so well, he'd turn the heart of the sturdiest non-believers.
Also helping to make this an essential collection is the gorgeous hard-cover book. It features 270 glossy pages, mostly of Williams photos, pretty much the entire archive. Many of them are previously unpublished, and have been transferred and touched-up with the latest techniques. There are official publicity shots for tours, Hank and the band looking splendid in their cowboy outfits, and candid shots back stage, with adoring fans and bandmates relaxing. We see him clowning around with fellow performers such as Minnie Pearl and Little Jimmy Dickens, and being glad-handed by all the usual promoters, theatre owners and disc jockeys. While I'm usually one who wants written content, these photos and their brief captions tell us as much as any book. I feel I've learned lots about Williams from this release, which is truly what you want from a box set.
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