Hank Williams
“The old lovesick blues boy,” Hank Williams, was the star of “The Health & Happiness Show.” The 1949 Nashville radio program was designed to promote a snake oil product, the vitamin-alcohol potion called Hadacol, but devoted most of its airtime to Williams. He was mournful on “Wedding Bells,” yodeling on “Lovesick Blues” and harmonized Appalachian style with wife Audrey on “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies.” Backing him was the string bass, fiddle and electric guitar of the Drifting Cowboys. Williams was right neighborly in presentation and picked up the high spirits of the enthusiastic studio audience.
The audio quality is high and “the singin’ sensation” seldom sounded better. Alas, only eight episodes of the show exist, spread across these two CDs. “The Health & Happiness Show” was cancelled less than two years before Williams’ life was cancelled. The music preserved here caught him in some of his finest moments.
