Hank Williams Sr.
Dec. 29, 2008 — The calendar has nearly closed on 2008, but the curtain is just now rising on a massive country reissue series being serviced by German label Bear Family Records that kicks off with six CDs celebrating the Post-War music of Texas swing master Bob Wills, singer-songwriter Hank Williams and silver-screen cowboy Gene Autry.
Country Music Hit Parade: Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Hillbilly Music was released Dec. 9 with six individual discs devoted to the music of one year. The first batch covers 1945-1950, while future albums in the series will eventually document country year-by-year from 1945-1970.
"The big hits are there," the Bear Family website promises, "but so are the classic performances that weren't necessarily big hits at the time, but became influential in the years ahead."
Each of the first six discs highlights 27 or 28 individual tracks accompanied by a booklet offering stories about the artists, the recordings and the music business at large during the era.
Among the classic material in each set:
• 1945: "Smoke On The Water," Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys; "The Cattle Call," Eddy Arnold; "Shame On You," Spade Cooley; "Don’t Fence Me In," Gene Autry; "We Live In Two Diff’rent Worlds," Roy Acuff & The Smokey Mountain Boys.
• 1946: "Rainbow At Midnight," Ernest Tubb; "Stay A Little Longer," Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys; "Zeb’s Mountain Boogie," Owen Bradley; "Kentucky Waltz," Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys; "You Will Have To Pay," Tex Ritter.
• 1947: "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)," Tex Williams & His Western Caravan; "Move It On Over," Hank Williams; "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys; "Freight Train Boogie," Delmore Brothers; "Canned Heat," Chet Atkins.
• 1948: "Anytime," Eddy Arnold; "Tennessee Saturday Night," Red Foley; "I Love You So Much It Hurts," Floyd Tillman; "I’m My Own Grandpa," Lonzo & Oscar; "Tennessee Waltz," Pee Wee King.
• 1949: "Riders In The Sky," Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra; "Room Full Of Roses," Sons Of The Pioneers; "Lovesick Blues," Hank Williams; "Candy Kisses," George Morgan; "Mule Train," Tennessee Ernie Ford.
• 1950: "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs; "Chattanoogie Shoeshine Boy," Red Foley; "If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time," Lefty Frizzell; "Hillbilly Fever," Little Jimmy Dickens; "I’m Movin’ On," Hank Snow.
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