Bargain Audio CDs & Priceless Collection (series)

Best of Early Years

by Hank Williams

Product Description:

Compilation producers: Howard Smiley, Bill Crowley.

As one might easily guess from looking at their covers, Laserlight Records' AMERICAN LEGENDS discs feature those artists honored by the U.S. Postal Service. Volume 18 in the series pays tribute to Hank Williams Sr., arguably country music's greatest songwriter and certainly the biggest country star of his era. Between 1947 and 1953--the year of his untimely death--Williams placed 35 songs in the country Top 10, many of which he wrote himself.

Hank Williams appears on only four of the thirteen recordings included on AMERICAN LEGENDS. The other nine tracks are songs written by and popularized by Williams but performed here by other artists. West Coast honky-tonk legend Rose Maddox sings three Williams songs, and Molly O'Day gives three others an Appalachian flavor. Bluegrass legends the Osborne Brothers add "My Heart Would Know" and "My Sweet Love Ain't Around." While there's nothing wrong with these recordings per se, they don't meet the high standard set by Williams' original recordings. Furthermore, several of these songs are definitely second-tier songwriting efforts. Accordingly, AMERICAN LEGENDS is a nice, though not exemplary, set. Those seeking Williams' original classic recordings should consider either 20 GREATEST HITS or 40 GREATEST HITS.