Hank Williams Sr. & The Drifting Cowboys (and others) - The Health and Happiness Shows


Here is a gem indeed for all the serious lovers of Hank (like DaddyRich) and will keep toes tapping for a while. I had searched the internets for a long time years back, piecing these together ever so slowly and laboriously. Years people. Years. All I had to show for my efforts was a scattered few remnants of what seemed to my ears to be the Halcyon days of country music. Then, Lo and Behold, they get an official release with better sound quality. We all win on this one. Some of the best songs in his wide catalogue are played here live and to great effect - tunes like 'Lovesick Blues', 'Lost Highway' and 'Mind Your Own Business'. More Hank on the way, regardless of how few download this one. I will keep shoving Hank at you and it will sink in to a few, and that's enough for me. Just do what you can to avoid the songs that his wife sings on.... (cringe). Boy, he really must have loved her to let her keep singing with that voice of hers. Damn. More music to come - 'if the Lord's willing and the creek don't rise'.

As an odd side-note. The only 2 times my Hank Sr. t-shirt has been recognized in 7 years is at a Willie Nelson sjow and a Social Distortion concert. Interesting, huh?

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #1 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
WEDDING BELLS (Claude Boone)
LOVESICK BLUES (Cliff Friend/Irving Mills)
OLD JOE CLARK (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
WHERE THE SOUL OF MAN NEVER DIES (Wayne Raney o.b.o. William M. Golden) - with Audrey Williams
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #2 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
YOU'RE GONNA CHANGE (OR I'M GONNA LEAVE) (Hank Williams)
THERE'S A BLUEBIRD ON YOUR WINDOW SILL - Audrey Williams
FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
TRAMP ON THE STREET, A (Grady Cole/Hazel Cole)
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #3 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
I'M A LONG GONE DADDY (Hank Williams)
I'M TELLING YOU - Audrey Williams
BILL CHEATHAM (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
WHEN GOD COMES AND GATHERS HIS JEWELS (Hank Williams)
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #4 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
LOST HIGHWAY (Leon Payne)
I WANT TO LIVE AND LOVE (Gene Sullivan/Wiley Walker) - with Audrey Williams
BILE THEM CABBAGE DOWN (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
I'LL HAVE A NEW BODY (I'LL HAVE A NEW LIFE) (Traditional)
FINGERS ON FIRE (instrumental) - Bob McNett
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #5 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
MANSION ON THE HILL, A (Hank Williams/Fred Rose)
THERE'LL BE NO TEARDROPS TONIGHT (Hank Williams)
WAGNER (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
PRODIGAL SON, The (Floyd D. Jenkins a.k.a. Fred Rose)
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #6 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
PAN AMERICAN (Hank Williams)
LOVESICK BLUES (Cliff Friend/Irving Mills)
ARKANSAS TRAVELLER (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
I SAW THE LIGHT (Hank Williams) - with Don Helms & Hillous Butrum
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #7 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS (Hank Williams)
WEDDING BELLS (Claude Boone)
COTTON-EYED JOE (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
I'VE JUST TOLD MAMA GOODBYE (Slim Sweet/Curley Kinsey)
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS SHOW #8 (Oct 1949):

HAPPY ROVIN' COWBOY (Bob Nolan)
I CAN'T GET YOU OFF OF MY MIND (Hank Williams)
I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY (Hank Williams)
FISHERMAN'S HORNPIPE (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers
THY BURDENS ARE GREATER THAN MINE (Pee Wee King/Redd Stewart)
SALLY GOODIN' (instrumental) - Jerry Rivers


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Hank Williams Sr. - Live At The Grand Ole Opry (2 Discs)




Of course no one needs to ask if DaddyRich loves Hank Sr. - He was among my first posts and is still listened to here with great regularity. I may be perhaps striving to make up for all my wayward younger years in which I scoffed at the idea of the man and his music. Regardless, I have made up for lost time and am now in the possession of quite a large collection of his music. With his passing at such a young age - him and the age of modern recording technologies, the concerts that are available are of woefully pitiable quality most often. This collection about represents the pinnacle of quality we could ever likely expect to hear from the great voice of Hank Sr. More from the interwebs...


" As the single most important artist in country music, Hank Williams bears a discography whose every element is of extreme historical import. While he recorded prolifically, live Williams records are decidedly in the minority. Before the 1999 release of LIVE AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY, the Health and Happiness radio shows and a few stray cuts here and there were all the public had access to in terms of live Hank. Like the Health and Happiness release, this album is taken from radio transcriptions. The context these shows provide--Hank trades quips with Minnie Pearl and a host of comedians, and engages in plenty of aural glad-handing with the host and audience--makes the unadorned longing in Hank's voice and songs all the more striking. Listening to him detail (though not without humor) his miserable state on "Nobody's Lonesome For Me" while an enthusiastic audience happily claps along, adds an extra ironic edge to the already harrowing musical experience. LIVE AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY shows that Williams was a unique combination of happy-faced showman and broken-hearted troubadour, a man who could make people smile with a cry in his voice."

And please ignore the comedy routines, they are just awful.


DISC 1:
1. Lovesick Blues
2. Wedding Bells - (previously unreleased)
3. You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)
4. Why Don't You Love Me - (previously unreleased)
5. Comedy With Hank Williams, Red Foley And Minnie Pearl
6. They'll Never Take Her Love From Me
7. Moanin' The Blues - (previously unreleased)
8. Nobody's Lonesome For Me - (previously unreleased)
9. Dear John
10. Cold, Cold Heart - (previously unreleased)
11. Hey Good Lookin'
12. Honky Tonk Blues
13. Let The Spirit Descend
14. Baby, We're Really In Love
15. Comedy With Hank Williams And Rod Brasfield - (previously unreleased)
16. Old Country Church, The
17. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) - (previously unreleased)
18. Jambalaya (On The Bayou) - (previously unreleased)
19. Half As Much - (previously unreleased)
20. Window Shopping - (previously unreleased)
21. Long Gone Lonesome Blues - (previously unreleased)


DISC 2: COMPLETE ARMED FORCES RADIO SHOW 116 (2/18/50):

1. Aunt Jemima's Plaster - (previously unreleased, with Red Foley)
2. Lead Me To That Rock - (previously unreleased, with Wally Fowler & The Oak Ridge Quartet)
3. I Just Don't Like This Kind Of Livin'
4. Comedy With Minnie Pearl
5. Lord, I'm Coming Home - (previously unreleased, with Red Foley)
6. Oh, You Beautiful Doll - (previously unreleased, with Claude Sharpe & The Old Hickory Singers)
7. Comedy With Jamup & Honey - (previously unreleased)
8. Lovesick Blues - (previously unreleased)
9. You Ain't Got Faith - (previously unreleased, with Wally Fowler & The Oak Ridge Quartet)
10. Church Music - (previously unreleased, with Red Foley)



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