Hank Williams doesn't dig Milton Berle - 1951

[Mister Moon]

Here's an interesting article about Hank Williams from 1951, where he explains a few of his secrets for success. Also, an unexpected reference to Milton Berle.

At the time this article was published, Hank's label was about to release his "Baby, We're Really In Love" / "I'd Still Want You" single, as well as one of the Luke The Drifter discs, "Ramblin' Man" / "Pictures From Life's Other Side". Both records were reviewed on the same page of "The Billboard", which also included Ray Price's cover of another Williams tune, "Weary Blues From Waitin'". Hank was truly at the top of his game by Christmas 1951.

Finally, as a bonus, a cool full-page advertisement from December 1951 (complete with reversed picture !).

DIG !!!

511124 BB Hank Berle.jpg

511208 BB Hank 11100.JPG

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511222 BB Hank Power.jpg

[Mojo Filter]

Nice stuff. Thanks.

The greatest songwriter in country music. No one comes close.

[Mister Moon]

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Here's the precedent :

510922 BB Hank Berle.JPG

[Mister Moon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHJwPbJpfCA



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKhWoR05-tc&t=121s

[Mojo Filter]

"well, i left my home down on the rural route, I told my pa i'm going stepping out and get the honky tonk blues"......

[Mojo Filter]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

[Mister Moon]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

That's a beautiful portrait. I don't think I've seen it before. Thank you.

Here's one I like. It's surprising to see him playing an electric guitar. The microphone has a "KLOK" mark, so we can assume the photo was taken in San José, California, where that station was located. The image is often captioned as being from November 1952, but something tells me it's earlier than that :

Hank electric KLOK.jpg

[Mojo Filter]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

That's a beautiful portrait. I don't think I've seen it before. Thank you.

Here's one I like. It's surprising to see him playing an electric guitar. The microphone has a "KLOK" mark, so we can assume the photo was taken in San José, California, where that station was located. The image is often captioned as being from November 1952, but something tells me it's earlier than that :



Hank electric KLOK.jpg

It's a great photo. I wonder if he was capable of playing a little bit of lead guitar playing.

[Mister Moon]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

That's a beautiful portrait. I don't think I've seen it before. Thank you.

Here's one I like. It's surprising to see him playing an electric guitar. The microphone has a "KLOK" mark, so we can assume the photo was taken in San José, California, where that station was located. The image is often captioned as being from November 1952, but something tells me it's earlier than that :



Hank electric KLOK.jpg

It's a great photo. I wonder if he was capable of playing a little bit of lead guitar playing.

I have no idea, but the single version of "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" features a fine acoustic guitar solo. I have always wondered if it was played by Hank himself.

[Mojo Filter]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

That's a beautiful portrait. I don't think I've seen it before. Thank you.

Here's one I like. It's surprising to see him playing an electric guitar. The microphone has a "KLOK" mark, so we can assume the photo was taken in San José, California, where that station was located. The image is often captioned as being from November 1952, but something tells me it's earlier than that :



Hank electric KLOK.jpg

It's a great photo. I wonder if he was capable of playing a little bit of lead guitar playing.

I have no idea, but the single version of "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" features a fine acoustic guitar solo. I have always wondered if it was played by Hank himself.

I would say it is him playing it. Being a guitar player myself i can tell you that the excellent acoustic solo to that song is one of the simplest solos and very easy to play. It's based on the E, A and B7 chords, which are the basic chords that Hank plays on a lot of his songs when he's accompanying himself on rhythm guitar. So yeah, he would have been capable of playing it.

So to play it all you have to do is hold those three chords down and just hit the individual strings: low E, the A string, the G string (not that G string ) and the high E string. Very simple but such a great solo.

[Mister Moon]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

That's a beautiful portrait. I don't think I've seen it before. Thank you.

Here's one I like. It's surprising to see him playing an electric guitar. The microphone has a "KLOK" mark, so we can assume the photo was taken in San José, California, where that station was located. The image is often captioned as being from November 1952, but something tells me it's earlier than that :



Hank electric KLOK.jpg

It's a great photo. I wonder if he was capable of playing a little bit of lead guitar playing.

I have no idea, but the single version of "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" features a fine acoustic guitar solo. I have always wondered if it was played by Hank himself.

I would say it is him playing it. Being a guitar player myself i can tell you that the excellent acoustic solo to that song is one of the simplest solos and very easy to play. It's based on the E, A and B7 chords, which are the basic chords that Hank plays on a lot of his songs when he's accompanying himself on rhythm guitar. So yeah, he would have been capable of playing it.

So to play it all you have to do is hold those three chords down and just hit the individual strings: low E, the A string, the G string (not that G string ) and the high E string. Very simple but such a great solo.

I've just found Hank was backed during that session by a group of musicians which included, unusually, a rhythm guitarist, in this case, Louis Innis, who was a very accomplished musician and recording artist. So I guess Hank must have let Innis play that solo, no matter how simple it was :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bucket%27s_Got_a_Hole_in_It

[Mojo Filter]

I don't think I've seen this particular shot from this photo session (there are a few), but the clarity of it is amazing, thought i'd post it here:

Hank-Williams.jpg

That's a beautiful portrait. I don't think I've seen it before. Thank you.

Here's one I like. It's surprising to see him playing an electric guitar. The microphone has a "KLOK" mark, so we can assume the photo was taken in San José, California, where that station was located. The image is often captioned as being from November 1952, but something tells me it's earlier than that :



Hank electric KLOK.jpg

It's a great photo. I wonder if he was capable of playing a little bit of lead guitar playing.

I have no idea, but the single version of "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" features a fine acoustic guitar solo. I have always wondered if it was played by Hank himself.

I would say it is him playing it. Being a guitar player myself i can tell you that the excellent acoustic solo to that song is one of the simplest solos and very easy to play. It's based on the E, A and B7 chords, which are the basic chords that Hank plays on a lot of his songs when he's accompanying himself on rhythm guitar. So yeah, he would have been capable of playing it.

So to play it all you have to do is hold those three chords down and just hit the individual strings: low E, the A string, the G string (not that G string ) and the high E string. Very simple but such a great solo.

I've just found Hank was backed during that session by a group of musicians which included, unusually, a rhythm guitarist, in this case, Louis Innis, who was a very accomplished musician and recording artist. So I guess Hank must have let Innis play that solo, no matter how simple it was :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bucket%27s_Got_a_Hole_in_It

Thanks for the Wikipedia link. Some nice information about the session. To have "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" as a B side (if you can call it a B side) is just so cool - to me, it's a double A side.

Just as a note: doncha just love Sonny Burgess's Sun cut of "My Buckets Got A Hole In It".

[Mister Moon]

Just as a note: doncha just love Sonny Burgess's Sun cut of "My Buckets Got A Hole In It".

To be honest, I don't quite like the rock and roll versions I've heard of this song.

Sonny Burgess's 1957 recording at Sun sounds too produced. There was a clear attempt at softening Sonny's natural rough sound, and they added that very prominent acoustic guitar and background vocals. It was a production done by Jack Clement, if I'm not mistaken. Over the years, we have had the undubbed recording, and an alternate take too, and they sound better to my ears, even though they sound unfinished.

I would rather stick to Ricky Nelson's version for Imperial, done a few months after Sonny's. It's one of the very firsr Nelson recordings to feature James Burton on lead guitar. We can see them both in this video (Burton is playing a Gretsch) :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytPD3w_9tPo



There is an earlier rock and roll version of the song, called "Hole In The Bucket", done in 1956 by a Canadian band called The Rhythm Jesters, which was issued on the New York-based Rama label, but it's not even worth posting it.

Contemporary to Hank Williams' recording, there is an excellent version by "T" Texas Tyler done for 4-Star. Both versions were big hits. From what I can see, Hank's version reached number 2, while Tyler reached 4. You be the judge :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLEKWU5YT4

[Mister Moon]

491224 CB Hank Bucket.jpg

[Mojo Filter]

Just as a note: doncha just love Sonny Burgess's Sun cut of "My Buckets Got A Hole In It".

To be honest, I don't quite like the rock and roll versions I've heard of this song.

Sonny Burgess's 1957 recording at Sun sounds too produced. There was a clear attempt at softening Sonny's natural rough sound, and they added that very prominent acoustic guitar and background vocals. It was a production done by Jack Clement, if I'm not mistaken. Over the years, we have had the undubbed recording, and an alternate take too, and they sound better to my ears, even though they sound unfinished.

I would rather stick to Ricky Nelson's version for Imperial, done a few months after Sonny's. It's one of the very firsr Nelson recordings to feature James Burton on lead guitar. We can see them both in this video (Burton is playing a Gretsch) :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytPD3w_9tPo



There is an earlier rock and roll version of the song, called "Hole In The Bucket", done in 1956 by a Canadian band called The Rhythm Jesters, which was issued on the New York-based Rama label, but it's not even worth posting it.

Contemporary to Hank Williams' recording, there is an excellent version by "T" Texas Tyler done for 4-Star. Both versions were big hits. From what I can see, Hank's version reached number 2, while Tyler reached 4. You be the judge :



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLEKWU5YT4

I like the wildness of Sonny's vocals, and I think it does sound good to my ears on "Bucket". His wild vocals don't work on all his stuff for me. I've never been that keen on "We Wanna Boogie" but I do like the B side better - it just seems to work here, of course it's all to do with the song and how it fits.

However, i've never been a fan of Jack Clement. He changed the sound of sun records by adding choirs (backing singers) and trying to produce pop records the Nashville way, being more commercial. Again, his work did work on some records but it was never the same once Sam let him become more involved.

You maybe a bit surprised by this but, I've not really been a Ricky Nelson fan. His voice, to me, didn't suit rock'n'roll, it was too soft vocal it didn't have the power to do such riveting and compelling rock belters. His soft vocals on things like "Boppin' The Blues", "Trying To Get To You" and "Good Rockin' Tonight" is just too weak for such rocking numbers. He's ok on the Burnette penned numbers. His voice works better on his pop stuff like "It's Late" and "Poor Little Fool". Its been said that Ricky's version of "Bucket" was influenced by Sonny's...I think Sonny has acknowledged this as well.

Whenever I want to hear "Bucket" i always go to Hanks. Has mentioned earlier that acoustic solo is just so cool.