Hank's band and recordings

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 03:28 PM

Wow, this is amazing. These vintage electric instruments are achieving the status of pre-war Mastertones and Lloyd Loar F-5s.

But I'm still interested in the exact nature of MGM's posthumous meddling with Hank's recordings. And I would really appreciate a link to a rundown of the personnel on Hank's studio sessions, if anyone knows of one. (I have found a "sessionography", but it only gives dates and studio locations, not personnel.)

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: Fortunato
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 01:30 PM

Armen, thanks for the thread, I'd never bothered to look up my lap steel. Now I know it's a Fender Champion:Click hereRegards, Chance

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: Fortunato
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 01:22 PM

Whoops. I put in a later model, here's the BD6

Click here

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: Fortunato
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 01:17 PM

Whoops. I put in a later model, here's the BD6

Click here

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: Fortunato
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 01:12 PM

Jerry Byrd played steel for Hank Williams and it was done on a Rickenbacker BD-6 lap steel tuned to C6 tuning.

Click here

Don Helms began in 1950 using Gibson Console Grande tuned in E6. No pedals.

Click here

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 04:25 AM

Definitely no pedal steel on Hank's records. Most of the earlier records (before Don Helms) had Jerry Byrd playing steel (regarded by many as one of, if not THE, greatest non-pedal steel players, now living in Hawaii). Nick

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 11:29 PM

Of course I meant MGM, not Mercury. The best example of the kind of playing I'm talking about is on Nobody's Lonesome For Me, but there are several others that have the same effect.

OK, so there were two necks, but definitely no pedals, am I right? And were there any drums at all on any of the original recordings, or were all brushes, etc., added later?

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From:
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 10:47 PM

Fred Rose acted as A&R man for Sterling [Hank's first 8 recordings] then when Hank got his MGM contract Fred was still the A&R man. Fred used studio musicians on Hanks recordings until Jan. 1950. After that he used Hank's road band. I would have to know what songs you listened to so I could tell you the side men. Hank never used twin fiddles, the fiddler just played double and/or triple stops. Starting Jan. 1950, Hank's road band played on most of the recordings until the end of Hank's life. The fiddler was Jerry Rivers, died 1996, and the steel man was Don Helms, still living and playing steel for Hank's daughter, Jett Williams. Don still uses the same 1948 double 8 Gibson Console Grand model that he played on the Hank recordings. If you will e-mail me direct with song names, I'll tell you when they were recorded and who the musicians are. MGM overdubbed some of Hank's recordings and added strings, electric bass, drums, piano and tried to erase as much of the original music as they could. I don't like those records and won't talk about them.

Subject: RE: Hank's band and recordings
From: 53
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:24 PM

chet atkins was also a sideman for hank for awhile, i don't know how long, but i have several pictures of chet playing backup guitar for hank. bob.

Subject: Hank's band and recordings
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 27 Sep 01 - 07:09 PM

Rolling down route 24, headed for Fall River, Mass., and listening to Hank Williams (24 hits, volume 2), I was struck yet again by how great a couple of his sidemen were.

His fiddle player plays double-stop solos almost exclusively (unless there were two fiddles) -- wonderful, simple, direct solos.

But I think the swingin'est musician ever to pick up the steel bar is Hank's steel player. Against the chunka-chunk two-step rhythm, he lays down solos worthy of Johnny Hodges -- it's hard to sit still when you're listening to him. So...what I'm wondering is:

1. What were their names, fiddle and steel?

2. The steel is an old "single six" or maybe 8, but no pedals, right?

3. How many of Hank's recordings did Mercury mess with after his death? And which ones? All of them, or only the giant hits? And what, exactly, did they do to them? Some of the time, I can hear a tic-toc electric bass that seems to be a posthumous "improvement". Did Mercury add high-strung "ching" guitars, or is that Hank's D-18 all the time?

I figure there might be some Hank nuts who are up on this stuff.