Dick Winfree -composer-

song title: China Boy

lyric by Phil Boutelje

Hank Williams -composer-

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Induction Year: 1987
Induction Category: Early Influence:

The words and music of Hank Williams echo across the decades with a timelessness that transcends genre. He brought country music into the modern era, and his influence spilled over into the folk and rock arenas as well. He was born Hiram Williams in Mount Olive, Alabama, in 1923. Williams learned gospel music from his Baptist-church organist mother

and blues and pop from a black street musician. By age sixteen, he'd formed the first version of his legendary Drifting Cowboys and was playing on a local radio station. The early '40s found him performing one-nighters at roadhouses across Alabama. He moved to Nashville in 1946, where he signed with the famed Acuff-Rose publishing company and landed a recording contract with MGM the following year. His initial MGM release, "Move It On Over," was a rocking country blues made popular all over again in the '70s by George Thorogood. In 1949, his "Lovesick Blues" topped the C and W chart and then remained in the Top 15 for ten months. His debut on the Grand Ole Opry that same year earned him six encores, and he became a regular cast member. "Lovesick Blues" was the first of eleven million-selling singles for Williams over the next four years. All totaled, Williams cracked the C and W Top Ten thirty-six times.

Williams was a prolific tunesmith, powerful singer and magnetic performer. His best known songs, "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'," "Cold, Cold Heart," "I'm So Lonesome I CouldCry"--endure as American classics, speaking in eloquent vernacularto fans of country, blues, pop and rock and roll alike. Williams also recorded some gospel-style material pseudonymously as "Luke, the Drifter." At the heifght of his career, he virtually reinvented the country idiom, paving the way for a new breed of songwriter. The "outlaw" school of country singer-songwriters who followed in Williams' wake--including Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and his own son, Hank Williams Jr.--would have been inconceivable without Williams' rough-cut artistry. However, problems with drug and alcohol led to Williams' premature death by heart attack at age 29 while en route to a show. In 1961, Williams was the first artist elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, a tribute indicative of his impact

song title: Cold, Cold Heart (Click Here for YouTube video clip)

song title: Hey, Good Lookin' (Click Here for YouTube video clip)

song title: Honky Tonk Blues (Click Here for YouTube audio clip)

song title: I Can't Get You Off My Mind

song title: I Heard You Crying In Your Sleep (Click Here for YouTube audio clip)

song title: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Click Here for YouTube audio clip)

song title: Jambalaya (Click Here for YouTube audio clip)

song title: Move It On Over (Click Here for YouTube audio clip)

song title: Ramblin' Man (Click Here for YouTube audio clip)

song title: You Win Again (Click Here for YouTube video clip)

song title: Your Cheatin' Heart