Bob Dylan sings 11 Hank Williams songs

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

I believe in Hank Williams singing `I Saw the Light.’ I’ve seen the light, too.”
– Bob Dylan (1997)

Hank Williams was the first influence, I would think, I guess, for a longer period of time than anybody else.
~Bob Dylan (Bronstein Interview, Montreal, 1966)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, Feb 1965)

If it wasn’t for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Shelton, June 1978)

Bob Dylan has referenced Hank Williams in interviews, in books, and with music a lot of times. Williams was also mentioned in the liner notes on Dylan’s first two albums:

Bob Dylan (1962):

Bob Dylan started to sing and play guitar when he was ten. Five to six years later he wrote his first song, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot. All the time, he listened to everything with both ears — Hank Williams, the late Jimmie Rodgers, Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Carl Perkins, early Elvis Presley.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan(1963):

Among the musicians and singers who influenced him were Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, Mance Lipscomb and Big Joe Williams.

Lets start with a lovely scene from “Don’t Look Back” (1967, D. A. Pennebaker) where Bob sings Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” and “So Lonesome I Could Cry“:

“The songs of Woody Guthrie ruled my universe, but before that, Hank Williams had been my favorite songwriter, though I thought of him as a singer, first.”
– Bob Dylan (Chronicles)

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The Best Songs: Cold Cold Heart by Hank Williams

There was a time when I believed that you belonged to me
But now I know your heart is shackled to a memory
The more I learn to care for you, the more we drift apart
Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart

“Cold, Cold Heart” is a country music and pop song recorded by Hank Williams. This blues ballad is both a classic of honky-tonk and an entry in the Great American Songbook. The first draft of the song is dated November 23, 1950, and was recorded with an unknown band on May 5, 1951.

This is dark stuff, filled with jealousy, bitterness and hopeless love.

Country music historian Colin Escott states that Williams was moved to write the song after visiting his wife Audrey in the hospital, who was suffering from an infection brought on by an abortion she had carried out at their home unbeknownst to Hank. Escott also speculates that Audrey, who carried on extramarital affairs as Hank did on the road, may have suspected the baby was not her husband’s. Florida bandleader Pappy Neil McCormick claims to have witnessed the encounter:

“According to McCormick, Hank went to the hospital and bent down to kiss Audrey, but she wouldn’t let him. ‘You sorry son of a bitch,’ she is supposed to have said, ‘it was you that caused me to suffer like this.’ Hank went home and told the children’s governess, Miss Ragland, that Audrey had a ‘cold, cold heart,’ and then, as so often in the past, realized the bitterness in his heart held commercial promise.”

“Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue, and so my heart is paying now for things I didn’t do.”

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March 16: Hank Williams recorded “Hey, Good Lookin'” in 1951

hank williams hey good lookin

Recording session:

Date: March 16, 1951 (1:30 – 5:00 pm)
Location: Castle Studio, Nashville, TN
Label: MGM

  • Hank Williams (vocal, guitar)
  • Jerry Rivers (fiddle)
  • Don Helms (steel guitar)
  • Sammy Pruett (electric guitar)
  • Jack Shook (rhythm guitar)
  • Ernie Newton or “Cedric Rainwater” (Howard Watts) (bass)
  • Owen Bradley or Fred Rose (pn)

Session:

  1. I CAN’T HELP IT (IF I’M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU) – 2:22 (Hank Williams)
  2. HOWLIN’ AT THE MOON – 2:41 (Hank Williams)
  3. HEY, GOOD LOOKIN’ – 2:53 (Hank Williams)
  4. MY HEART WOULD KNOW – 2:24 (Hank Williams)

4 great songs, but my fav is Hey, Good Lookin’.

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February 11: Hank Williams Lovesick Blues was released in 1949

hank williams lovesick blues

I got a feelin’ called the blues, oh Lord
Since my baby said goodbye
Lord I don’t know what I’ll do
All I do is sit and sigh, oh Lord

Hank Williams signature song was released 69 years ago today.

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July 19: Hank Williams released “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” in 1952

hank williams Jambalaya (On the Bayou)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Goodbye Joe me gotta go me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne the sweetest one me oh my oh
Son of a gun we’ll have big fun on the bayou
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun we’ll have big fun on the bayou[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Wikipedia:

A-side “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)”
B-side “Window Shopping”
Released 19 July 1952
Format 7″
Recorded 13 June 1952
at Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre Country
Length 2:52
Label MGM
K-11283 (U.S. 7″)
Writer(s) Hank Williams

Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Hank Williams that was first released in July 1952. Named for a Creole and Cajun dishjambalaya, it spawned numerous cover versions and has since achieved popularity in a number of music genres.

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10 Great Americana / Alt. Country songs

There are so MANY great songs to choose from… here are 10 great that´s on my mind today.

Hank Williams – Lost Highway

I’m a rollin’ stone all alone and lost
For a life of sin I have paid the cost
When I pass by all the people say
Just another guy on the lost highway

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