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Some More Western Swing

By Leocthasme


To all the Western Swing Fans who have been reading my articles here,
I got a deal you can’t turn down. If any of you would like copies of the music I have mentioned
in any of the Western Swing Articles which started in the October 2000 Issue and
have continued in the April Issue and now this one, I can make CDs or
if you prefer cassettes of any of the music I have mentioned.
These recordings, which are out of print, are in my collection
and can be made for you.
My fee for putting these recordings on a CD or Cassette
is 10 bucks for each to cover the cost of my time and material and postage.
(I CAN’T SELL THESE AS THEY ARE COPYRIGHTED,
HOWEVER I CAN CHARGE FOR MY TIME AND MATERIAL).
Two bucks will go to Pencilstubs for their continuing efforts in other
literary labors of love.
Also, those of you who might have old collections that you would like restored
in newer formats, I can possibly clean them up and put them on a CD or
Cassette for you. This, however, is more of a time and material effort as each old
Album will have to be checked for quality (scratches and imperfections) and then
cleaned up to enhance the tonal quality. The basic price for an 8 to 12 selection album
would be 25 bucks with 5 going to Pencilstubs, and if more cleanup effort is required
an estimate of work will be sent for your OK before being done.
I can clean up the following media, Old records, 45's, 331/3, (but not 78's as I no
longer have a 78 record player, but if you do you can record them to tape and I can work with that),
tapes, Cassettes, and CDs (even CDs with bad scratches).

Hank Thompson’s Last Recordings with Capitol Records.

In the summer of 1964, Hank made his last recordings for Capitol Records as a star recording artist. He would go on to make other recordings, but not for Capitol. The Beatles were in; Hard Country was in, the Nashville Sound. Buck Owens was the new top ranker for Capitol, the Bakersfield Sound. Hank Thompson, Bob Wills and the big Western Swing Bands were on the way out. But stars like Hank or Bob would never compromise their sound. So what we have here are the last efforts of a semblance of Hank’s style of Western Swing.

A lot of the numbers here are somewhat sentimental efforts and not the Best of Hank Thompson. The following tracks were made in December 1963, at Capitol. This record album was not released until 1965, or so the copyright states. Not many are Hank’s compositions, most are just a lot of sentimental drivel, but what is here are good musical numbers as only Hank and his Brazos Valley Boys could do them.

    1: Paper Doll: Composer, Johnny Black, made famous by the Mills Brothers.
    2: There’s No You: Composers, Hank Thompson, Tom Adair, George Durgon.
    Jo Stafford had a hit with this one.
    3: You Always Hurt The One You Love: Composers, Doris Fisher, Allan Roberts.
    Another Mills Brothers hit.
    4: September In The Rain: Composers, Harry Warren, Al Dubin.
    5: ‘Til Then: Composers, Eddie Seiler, Sol Marcus, Guy Wood.
    6: That’s All There Is To That: Composers, Clyde Otis, Kelly Owens.
    7: Breakin’ In Another Heart: Composers, Hank Thompson, Dorothy Thompson, Billy Gray.
    8: How Do You Hold A Memory: Composers, Lyle Gaston, Orville Proctor.
    9: Don’t Take It Out On Me: Composer, Hank Thompson.
    10: I’d Have Never Found Somebody New: Composer, Hank Thompson.
    11: It’s Better To Have Loved A Little: Composer, Hank Thompson.
    12: Just An Old Flame: Composer, Hank Thompson, Bob Robertson.

I have found a few singles in my collections that have a Capitol Label on them and they were recorded in 1964. These again are not the best Hank ever did but they are his compositions. One of them I suppose was to answer Merle Haggard’s ‘Okie’ From Muskogee’ and a couple of other Viet Nam era ramblings. So Hank composed one called, ‘I’m Gonna Practice Freedom’.

And he did these other three numbers in 1964, too, all with a Capitol Label. ‘Life’s Sweetest Moment”, 'Then I’ll Start Believing In You,’ and 'In The Back Of Your Mind'. After 1964, Hank began recording with Warner Brothers, however I don’t think that lasted too long. From about 1967, or 1968, on up through 1978, his recordings bore the DOT label. And that is where he did a lot of his ‘Honky Tonk, beer drinkin’ songs such as, ‘On Tap, In The Can, Or In The Bottle’ and ‘Smokey The Bar’, both of which were high on the charts. In 1989, Hank Thompson received a long overdue Country Music Award, and became a Member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. A case of Country Music accepting him more than the other way around, I seem to recall that sometime in Hank’s early career, 1949, thereabouts, he had a hit or two and the Grand Ol’ Opry offered him a spot. He lasted one week there, when he got his first paycheck for about 10 bucks or a little less, he headed back to Dallas, Texas, for a little better minimum wage. Story goes, that on the way out the door, Hank Thompson ran into Hank Williams, so Hank says to Hank “Hey, boy you leavin’? And, Hank from Texas answers Hank from Alabama, “Hell, at these prices I can’t stay”.

And, again, another ‘last’ Capitol Album, which again was not one of Hank’s best either. On the other hand since it was a Christmas Album, it was sort of old standards and a new one or two, and even one Hank might have liked to forget, ‘I’d Like To Have An Elephant For Christmas’. Was he trying to do a funny like Spike Jones’ ‘All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth'? You guess about that one.

Here is what is on this ‘last’ album recorded for Capitol in June 1964 for the Christmas season release.

    1: Here Comes Santa Claus, a Gene Autry Composition.
    2. Gonna’ Wrap My Heart In Ribbons, Composed by Hank Thompson, Hatchcock, and Allard.
    3: It’s Christmas Everyday In Alaska, Composer Hank Thompson
    4: Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town, Composers J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie.
    5. Blue Christmas, Composers Billy Hayes, Jay Johnson.
    6. Silver Bells, Composers Billy Hayes, Jay Johnson.
    7. It’s Christmas Time, by Ira and Charlie Louvin.
    8. I’d Like To Have An Elephant For Christmas, by Hank Thompson.
    9. White Christmas, by Irving Berlin.
    10. Little Christmas Angel, by Hank Thompson, Hatchcock, and Allard.
    11. Mr. And Mrs. Snowman, by Hank Thompson and Lyle Gaston.
    12. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, by Johnny Marks.
    13. We Wish You A Merry Christmas, a Group Signoff.

That’s all for now,
more to come as I go through my collection.

 

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