HANK WILLIAMS – Five Classic Albums (HANK WILLIAMS SINGS / MOANIN’ THE BLUES / MEMORIAL ALBUMS / HONKY TONKIN’ / RAMBLIN’ MAN) (2CD) AVID

AVID Country continues with its Five Classic Albums series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Hank Williams, complete with original artwork and personnel details.
“Hank Williams Sings”; “Moanin’ The Blues”; “Memorial Album” “Honky Tonkin’ and “Ramblin’ Man”
Hank Williams was a man of many parts, Country singer Marty Stuart says he’s “a part of the fabric of America” ….perhaps the first superstar of country music. As musical legends go they don’t come much greater than Hiram King “Hank” Williams! Born in 1923 to a “charmless” mother and an absent father, Hanks childhood was shaped by the spina bifida that caused him constant pain and that would go on to be the root cause of his drug and alcohol consumption throughout his short life. Music was the young Hank’s passion and by the late thirties he had his own radio show on WFSA in Montgomery, Alabama. It paid fifteen dollars a week, enough for Williams to start his own group which he called The Drifting Cowboys but it wasn’t long before his problems with alcohol influenced the progress of his career. He was fired from the radio station and his group were all drafted into the army. By 1945 he was back on WFSA and had been introduced to Roy Acuff and Fred Rose who had begun to recognise Hank’s musical talents. By 1946 Hank signed to Sterling Records and months later Fred Rose took Hank to MGM where chart success soon followed. Hank Williams left behind a stunning catalogue of classic songs, all achieved by a man who had not even reached the age of 30!

CD1
1-8: ‘Hank Williams Sings’
1. I Saw The Light
2. Mansion On The Hill
3. Six More Miles
4. Wedding Bells
5. Lost Highway
6. I’ve Just Told Mama Goodbye
7. Wealth Won’t Save Your Soul
8. A House Without Love
9-16: ‘Moanin’ The Blues’
9. Moanin’ The Blues
10. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
11. My Sweet Love Ain’t Around
12. Honky Tonk Blues
13. Lovesick Blues
14. The Blues Come Around
15. I’m A Long Gone Daddy
16. Long Gone Lonesome Blues
17-24: ‘Memorial Album’
17. Your Cheatin’ Heart
18. Settin’ The Woods On Fire
19. You Win Again
20. Hey, Good Lookin’
21. Cold, Cold Heart
22. Kaw-Liga
23. I Could Never Be Ashamed Of You
24. Half as Much

CD2
1-8: ‘Honky Tonkin’’
1. Honky Tonkin’
2. Howlin’ At The Moon
3. My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It
4. Baby We’re Really In Love
5. Jambalaya
6. I Won’t Be Home No More
7. Honky Tonk Blues
8. I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
9-20: ‘Ramblin’ Man’
9. Ramblin’ Man
10. My Son Calls Another Man Daddy
11. I Can’t Escape From You
12. Nobody’s Lonesome For Me
13. I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)
14. There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight
15. Lonesome Whistle
16. I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Livin’
17. Take These Chains From My Heart
18. Why Don’t You Love Me
19. My Heart Would Know
20. You’re Gonna Change (Or I’m Gonna Leave)