Today is Hank Williams' Birthday
Thanks to Tony Pierce.
Related to one of my bugbears: Hank Sr. learned a lot of music from an African-American named Rufus Payne, who spent many years between age 6 and 30 in New Orleans. As Joseph Laredo says on 20th Century Masters CD: "Strains of these early gospel and blues influences run throughout Williams' recorded work." The same piece says Williams had a big influence on Rockabilly, as is acknowledged now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I found this page on Payne through Tony--but now I can't even get Tony's Busblog to open. This piece by Les Cales links to one on The African American Tradition in Country Music. There is a focus on the recording sessions in Bristol, Tennessee in 1927, involving the Carter family among others. The African-American influences there have often not been credited; and Payne's influence on Williams has often not been credited. American folk or roots music seems to have deep roots, combining white and black influences, yet the "genres" of the last 50 years or so come to the ear as either white or black.
UPDATE: From another website: "To the end, [Williams] was unapologetically Southern, unable to make the compromises that Elvis Presley would make just a few years later....Country music was a cottage industry at the time of his arrival, yet, just a few years after his death, it was shaking off its 'hillbilly' image. An artist as unapologetically rural as Hank Williams would have been shown the door."
"Move it On Over" was Williams' first hit, in 1947. (He died on the last day of 1952). To me it sounds like a clear anticipation of rock and roll as well as rockabilly.
I'll link this briefly to Fats Domino--who survived Katrina.
"Fats Domino exploded onto the rock-and-roll scene in 1955 when his song, "Ain't That A Shame," was covered by white recording artist Pat Boone. Boone's version went to number one, and Domino's version on Imperial went to number ten. The song established both artists as stars."
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