Hank Williams Album: “Live at the Grand Ole Opry”

This 2-CD set brings together some truly sublime performances (the unearthly Grand Ole Opry debut of "Lovesick Blues" and "Move It On Over") on disc 1, but little of consequence is contained on disc 2. The "Move It On Over" track was 'recently discovered' in Mercury's vaults, but most of these live recordings were released on the 10-CD box set, lending truth to my suspicion that Mercury is hoarding the majority of these recordings and will release them one at a time at a premium price.

This set is a start by Mercury of what should be a long lived series of releases of live recordings. Hank recorded so much live material in his career that this only touches the tip of the iceberg. I'm thinking here of "live" recordings that have found their way onto bootleg CD's such as the oft-mentioned "Jambalaya". No, we're not talking "Mother's Best" here, but so many have made the point that even though CD#2 is a "bonus", it is practically worthless except to historians, completists or fans of these other artists, so that is a turn-off to this set. Polygram done a heckuva job in the 1980's with their multi- volume set, so I'd suggest Mercury take the same road with the live recordings and do some sort of a commemorative set of "live" recordings for the completists out there.

...that hasn't already been written. Still, it seems that anyone who hears this man's recordings (especially in my little part of the world) is moved to words...and usually those words are his, sung in unison with whomever else happens to be around. Everyone, it seems, knows all the words - everyone knows the melodies. And, deep down, everyone knows the emotions that we can only assume spurred the writing of these songs. In his wonderful liner notes for this release, Rick Bragg writes about Hank Williams: "I thought he lived in our house". Yep, these songs do hit damn close to home. These Opry recordings are extrordinary. It's wonderful to hear the crowd react to Hank's first Opry performance - an amazing rendition of "Lovesick Blues" - by repeatedly erupting during the song into chears of joy. It was 1949, and there had never been anything like him. Fifty years later, there still hasn't.

Listening to this 2 disc set, is like going back in time, to the late 1940's & early 1950's. It's like listening to live music on the radio, that was being performed/broadcasted, live at the Grand Ole Opry. The first disc contains a compilation of 21 performances by Hank Williams, including some comedy with Minnie Pearl & Others. The CD notes give the date of each perfomance by Hank, on the Grand Ole Opry. The dates range from 1949 - 1952. You get to hear stage annoucements, and etc., and I like that. I'm glad they didn't edit out some of the stage talk.

On disc 2, you get a complete "Armed Forces Radio Show"/"Grand Ole Opry Show", that was performed/broadcasted on 2/18/50, it includes 2 performances by Hank, plus 8 other performances &/or comedy from other country music artists. It's really like going back in time.

When I was a child, my Mom & Dad took me and my brother, to see a Grand Ole Opry show at the old Ryman Auditorium. I value that experience.

The liner notes to this cd set were well written by Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of the best seller "All Over But The Shoutin'". He was raised in Alabama, while Hank was in his prime, and when Hank's songs were being played consistently on radio stations.

If you like Hank, and/or American Music History, then I highly recommend this cd set. Thanks!!!!

While the prior review is generally knowledgeable, its perspective seems to be unduly harsh (please also refer to the writer's negative review of The Complete Hank Williams boxset for further evidence of this pattern). Despite the sixty minutes of music on disc one justifying a five star rating, the additional twenty minutes on disc two is admitedly grossly inferior...however there's no way no how that that this set merits an OVERALL score of only TWO STARS! I mean this is like poo-pooing a great steak dinner because the desert and coffee were below par. Whereas I would normally have given this collection 4 stars all things considered, the prior review's low-ball score forces me to give this baby FIVE (count'em * * * * *) STARS! The steak and all the trimmings are fine here folks...just go somewhere else for desert! ; )