| On Valentine’s Day, I made a stop at Café Concerto, because my informer Gabriella Gotthalmsted, who I had met at the Daniel Johnston concert in october told me that if I was looking for something, that would be the right place. Radioeuropa the music suited to Bohemian tales. This is the story of another Bohemian, as in drifter: Hank Williams, from Alabama. Alabama, this is a region in the United States of America situated in the so-called Bible Belt, in the deep south, in the middle of the countryside. Hillbillies are said to be white lower-class people with loose mouth and ready for the gun, or fist and to have a drink problem. ‘Bama in US slang is pejorative for “country pumpkin”. Born in 1923, in a community of wood cutters who housed in one room cottages, Hank Williams learnt at an early age the downside of life and at the same time grew into the world of music. His mother played the organ at the local church hall, but his father had a serious drink problem. The young Hank Williams was fond of cowboy movies with singers like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry which happened in the Far West prairies, a world far away from Alabama. That did not prevent him to dress up as a cowboy. At the age of eleven he started busking in the pubs and met Rufus Payne, a black blues musician who became his friend and taught him the blues rhythms. Both themes: alcohol and blues stories are recurrent in Hank Williams songs. That blues, provided I am not mistaken with my sources originated from the Mississipi Delta, and hence is known as Delta Blues. Georg Siegl and Billy Votava from Viennese group Stiefelbein Bluhs Bänd perform four numbers at Café Concerto to get us into the mood. Moving over (guitar and accordeon) Mind your own business (not suited for Valentine) Lost Highway (poor old drifter me) Jambalaya (Cajun/Zydeco song) Those acquainted to Blues Brothers 2000 might have heard of Cajun music which one can find in the Bayous with its Black music counterpart called Zydeco. The Cajuns were descendants of French immigrants who came from Britanny in the 17 to Canada at the time when navigator Jacques Cartier discovered Newfoundland, and some of them moved to Louisiana which was a French possession at the time bought from the Spanish. Over the years the language evolved, so the Cajuns have absorbed more English language and Black culture whilst the Acadiens from Canada speak a French language tinted with English and native Indian dialect. Acadien influence musicians include: Daniel Lanois and Beausoleil. Notorious names of Cajuns include Dr John and Mink DeVille. Zydeco is the music of immigrants from the Caribbeans who settled down the Bayou and lived next to the Cajuns, some descendants of Zydeco include the Neville Brothers and Erika Badu. The song Jambalaya is a favourite in the area. Needless to say that blues, Cajun and Zydeco were far off the Nashville country scene, in those days racial and cultural segregation was on the agenda and in the deep south Nashville the WASP mentality dominated. So Hank Williams was quite courageous to include all these elements in his music. And yet, the 1930s, the days of the recession after Black Friday of 1929 were the days of social Keynesian reforms (after JM Keynes and JK Galbraith) as championed by F.D. Roosevelt and his building projects - Woody Guthrie with his songs about the Grand Coulee Damm was quite popular. But none of this mentality in the Bible Belt, where small communities lived in their own world. At the age of 13 Hank Williams left home to earn a living brushing shoes, selling peanuts and did appear on local radio shows to become known as the Singing Kid – and so his life on the road began. Rosita Williams sings Cold Cold Heart from a tribute compilation album from 2001. When Hank Williams came to fame, the weariness of his life and the world he had lived in shone through his songs. It also seems that women have been part of his problem because of tales of unrequited love like “Wedding Bells” (his love marries someone else) or “I’m so lonesome I could cry”, in the song “My son calls another one daddy” we hear the story of a man in prison lamenting that his nasty bitch of a wife found a loverboy playing daddy to his son. (my own words). As we can see, these song not only reflect that he might have been personally affected with romantic stories, but these songs also fit well into a culture that place family values at its centre and see women as creatures that either fall from grace or cheat. Mind you, even in so-called modern Europe I get funny remarks just because I say I have men friends. So this is a lady of bad reputation writing this (I can hear some laughing at that). A film at the time illustrating this was Jezebel with Bette Davis. When the USA got involved into the Second World War in 1942, there were heavy shortages. Hank Williams could not tour so he went to work in the shipyard and performed in Alabama’s main town called Montgomery. At concerts he sold copies of his booklet called “Original Songs by Hank Williams”, 35 cents a piece. He still felt very much like a drifter, but now that he was famous he was a contractual artist – although this got him out of financial worries, the contract meant a restriction on artistic freedom and movement. Many artists complain that a contract does not allow them to make musical experiments because usually the record company wants to sell the music to a wide audience and does not think too much about art. But as in everything there are exceptions and fourty shades of blue. Hank Williams decided to use a pen name to publish songs that he liked and could not make it on record: The Drifting Cowboy: I am not coming home any more From the compilation Cold Cold Heart: Kieran Kane: Rambling (The Drifter). Performed in a 2/4 rhythm which goes: ( . .. . ) The Rucki Zucki Palmencombo from Upper Austria with Bernhard and Gabi Tragut perform I saw the Light. Most of us know the version by Johnny Cash when he performed it in a Columbo episode. Incidentally, it was shown last September on Austrian ORF TV, and I happened to fool around with my camera experimenting the best way to take pictures of the screen.  In 1946, Williams and his wife, Audrey, moved to Nashville, where they called Fred Rose, Nashville's biggest music writer and publisher. After hearing a few of Willams' songs, Rose immediately signed him to a contract. Under Rose's direction, Williams signed with MGM Records and got his first hit, "Move It on Over," which landed him a job on a radio show in Shreveport called "Louisiana Hayride." Rose also helped Williams polish his songs to attract the pop music market. The Williams-Rose team worked well. "Cold, Cold Heart," one of Williams's tunes, became a No. 1 country hit, as well as a pop hit for Tony Bennett. Roger Williams said,"It was a perfect union: Williams' native genius, Rose's craftsmanship and sure sense of the market." Williams songs were a success on the "Louisiana Hayride." "I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep" and "Lovesick Blues" were just two of the songs that earned Williams an opportunity to perform on the Grand Ole Opry. His debut, on June 11, 1949, is still considered a precious moment in country music history. Popular demand brought Williams back to the Opry and made him a regular. Williams needed a band to perform with, so he reorganized the Drifting Cowboys and added other studio musicians who traveled with him to do live performances. They traveled across the United States and Canada, and even to Germany where they entertained American troops. A year later, the demand for Williams was the highest of any other country star. Songs such as "Why Don't You Love Me?" and "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" became No. 1 hits, increasing Williams' popularity even outside the country music sphere." details from official Hank Williams website Producers Acuff/Rose (later producers for Roy Orbison) produced “I saw the light”. MGM got involved and the song reached Number 4 in the charts. It is still popular these days as it is a favourite for buskers and an upbeat number. Roy Acuff himself was quite successful and savvy. A few words about Nashville. Roughstock.com comes very handy for us because it is concise and informative. They tell us that the most popular Nashville artist in the 1950ies were Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline (two big favourite for many people in Northern Ireland). Then there were Charley Pride, a group called Alabama, Reba McIntyre, Dolly Parton "I will always love you", Tammy Wynette "Stand by your man", George Hamilton III, John Conley and these days some people who sound quite traditionalist: Garth Brooks and Shania Twain "That don't impress me much" are the people we might have heard of, others are called George Strait and Lee Ann Womack. Honky Tonk piano and 3/4 music, this is quite popular in Europe and many people have this or that record in their collection. The German language equivalent is Wolfgang Petry and a band called Truck Stop, full of blokes, bonding, and tough women who like a strong man - just like in "King of the Hill" the cartoon series. In 1952, Williams briefly returned to the "Louisiana Hayride," divorced his first wife and re-married in a public ceremony. On New Year's Day, 1953, Williams died of a heart attack on his way to Canton, Ohio where he was to perform. Williams was laid to rest in the Oakwood Annex Cemetery located in Montgomery, Alabama. Williams had a special gift. He could produce and sing beautiful songs in a sincere and honest manner that everyone could relate to. He was, without a doubt, one of the greatest singers in the history of country music. Thank you, official Hank Williams website for the additional information. Lassiter were supposed to perform themselves but Christian Wirlitisch, the singer who plays the Fender Jaguar and the Fender Deluxe Reverb Guitar had been overdoing his job as a beisl animator with the result that he lost his voice. However, since he was available for interview, I could ask him technical questions about Hank Williams music. How would he describe it to radioeuropa readers who live in all sorts of cultures and locations?  that's hard working me with Chris. Thank you Gabriella for the picture. The instrumentation consists of drums, bass, guitar (western, pedal steel) and violin. The music is simple and consists of three chords on a 2/4 or 4/4 rhythm. (3/4 is country waltz or Tennessee Waltz that Austrian immigrants exported to the USA and became part as the Nashville sound and line dancing, ed. . The reduction gives it a bluesy atmosphere and the beat rhythm goes towards rock n’roll. The pronunciation is nasal and there are long stresses on vowels like o and a, which may at times remember of yodelling (another pejorative slang word for country pumpkin is “Yokel”). The singing is intense and whining (blues component). The loose structure of the song gives spontaneity to tell a story which is mostly a sad lament starting with “Woke up this morning” and ending that the character narrating the story dies and figures what happens to him afterwards. The last remark prompts me to state two thoughts. First this shows the influence of the some fanatical religious groups which often ask the question to the parishioners as what will happen after they die thus causing some impressionable people to get paranoid, afraid of death plus feel guilty and worthless and morbid, - a serious question. Second, the surreal device of a dead character telling his story reminds me of the song “Danny Boy – the Londonderry Air” from Ireland, the presence of banjo and fiddle in Hank Williams songs is an Irish folk-song legacy. Thank you, Christian. We shall see you later with the review of your EP My friend Terri Hooley from Belfast owned a vast collection of original Hank Williams records and in 1997 a fire broke out and – Murphy’s Law – they were destroyed. After much lament over the loss of that treasure, Terri thought that at least the house did not burn out. A record is a record, if one collects records just for the sake of possessing them, then the music is dead, buried and gathering dust. It is important that a song becomes part of your life, culture, so if you like a song, just sing along to it, or listen to it, then it becomes alive. So the music of Hank Williams lived on. I had a soft spot for Georg Siegl even though the name of his Bluhs Bänd might raise a smile but we don’t want to behave as snobs. The choice of instruments was spot on. He reminds me a bit of Elmore Wood, the one blues brothers who in BluesBrothers2000 goes on the road from his Chicago to the Bayous to defend great music against the loveless music of current days. So I’ll regard him as an Austrian blues brothers, and he was so chuffed to see an English speaker (I know it’s only me) to practise his language skills. And I obliged. So the love of music unites cultures at least during a song, and I may say that is quite in the spirit of Hank Williams who melted all sorts of cultures in his music, because popular songs travel the world thanks to technology, communication and transport, I do not sound like a wide eyed optimist when I say the world is less reactionary than it used to be. My idealistic wish for music is to see that instead of a global village with one sort of music we have small worlds living next to each other with equal rights, but even this is no utopia. |