COMPLETE Hank Williams Mother’s Best to Be Released
In 1951 Hank Williams recorded no less than 143 songs for radio station WSM in Nashville, 72 of which were pre-recorded to run while Williams was on tour, and 40 of which he had never been known to perform. Those recordings, known by bootleggers who’ve traded partial and complete collections for years as the “Mother’s Best Recordings” from the sponsor of the show, are now going to be released in their entirety by Time Life.
Selections from the collection have already been released in The Unreleased Recordings and Hank Williams: Revealed, but this will be the first truly complete set.
From The Tennessean:
“Those box sets will be combined into one massive collector’s box, with 15 audio discs featuring pristinely recorded songs and conversation, a DVD which features interviews with band member Don Helms and opening act Big Bill Lister and over 100 pages of liner notes from historian Colin Escott. Set for a September 28 release, Hank Williams Complete Mother’s Best Recordings”¦ Plus! will be packaged in an antique working radio that will play Williams’ songs when the dial is pressed.”
The recordings were finally made available to the public through Time Life after 8 years of legal fights over rights from the principles for the Hank Williams estate, Jett Williams and Hank Jr. Previous attempts to commercially release the recordings by unauthorized record labels, including one that wanted to flesh out the tracks with overdubbed instruments were all thwarted. All outstanding issues over the collection were resolved in May of 2008.
The recordings were originally done on 16-inch acetate discs that were disregarded and ended up in the trash before being saved by a WSM worker. The show was broadcast live from 7:15 to 7:30 on WSM, and usually included three songs: a country song, one instrumental, and a gospel tune, with interesting banter in between.
No word on the price of the box set just yet.
Also last Monday Jett Williams accepted a Pulitzer Prize on behalf of her father that you can read about by CLICKING HERE.
June 1, 2010 @ 2:21 pm
i have both of the other collections. great stuff. hank reading some of the ads is worth the price of admission. thanks, triggerman.
June 1, 2010 @ 4:39 pm
HELL YEAH MAN !!!
June 1, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
About damn time! That is awesome.
June 1, 2010 @ 8:33 pm
woo hoo!
June 3, 2010 @ 9:13 am
This impressive set will be available for purchase for a retail of 3 thousand dollars!
June 3, 2010 @ 11:03 am
You may not be far off David. I was thinking that same thing as I was reading through the laundry list this thing is gonna contain.
June 3, 2010 @ 8:23 pm
this is going to be awesome and if i have to sell a kidney then so be it… lord knows my liver aint worth a dime and my brain is obviously shot!
June 10, 2010 @ 10:57 am
I’ve have mixed feeling about the format as well, but you have to happy overall.
I wrote a piece on my blog.
June 14, 2010 @ 1:58 am
I’m first in line! To all you Hank Fans… It’s worth the trip to Montgomery Alabama to visit the Hank Museum… Original hand-written lyrics on display… And waiting till dark… about 11 p.m. to visit the grave site with a small flask of something strong can resurrect the strong images of Alan Jackson’s Midnight in Montgomery… To get the full experience, I reccommend listening to that song just before heading out to the sight…
June 28, 2010 @ 8:43 am
The price will be around 200 USD, and 165 EUR + P&P from Bear Family Records in Europe.
July 8, 2010 @ 10:58 am
Hope it is 200 USD or less which won’t be too bad to shell out for this great set of treats!!! Looking forward to it!
May 6, 2014 @ 1:39 pm
Triggerman…would you please write a blog about our mothers and honoring them.
My Mother Kept A Garden
My Mother kept a garden,
a garden of the heart,
She planted all the good things
that gave my life it’s start.
She turned me to the sunshine
and encouraged me to dream,
Fostering and nurturing
the seeds of self-esteem…
And when the winds and rain came,
she protected me enough-
But not too much because she knew
I’d need to stand up strong and tough.
Her constant good example
always taught me right from wrong-
Markers for my pathway
that will last a lifetime long.
I am my Mother’s garden.
I am her legacy-
And I hope today she feels the love
reflected back from me
Author Unknown