From the Jukebox: Hank Williams- “Lovesick Blues”, 1949

Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys, “Lovesick Blues”, 1949

Label: MGM

Songwriters: Irving Mills and Cliff Friend

Producer: Fred Rose

In celebration of what would have been Hank Williams’ 100th birthday, we feature the timeless country music pioneer as the launch artist for the new classic singles & songs series, From the Jukebox.

Names like Hank Williams, George Jones, and Patsy Cline have become so prominently etched into the very fabric of country music that it’s almost impossible to fathom that, at one time, they were all just aspiring new acts looking for that ever elusive breakthrough. By the end of 1948, under the guidance of pioneering songwriter and producer Fred Rose, Hank Williams had earned some considerable success on the country charts with hits like “Move It On Over” and “Honky Tonkin'”. However, he had yet to find that golden song that would propel him to the next level of stardom. The momentum in Williams’ career would accelerate immensely as 1949 dawned. Though he would earn the reputation as country music’s most timeless singer-songwriter, the pivotal song that would turn the tide in his career was not the product of his own pen. Written by Irving Mills and Cliff Friend and published by New York’s Tin Pan Alley in the early 1920s, “Lovesick Blues” was a heart wrenching lover’s lament which had seen various pop and blues incarnations before making its way to the country charts via Rex Griffin’s 1939 version.

When Williams got a hold of the song a decade later, it became his first definitive career hit, and has been identified as a country music standard ever since. While Griffin’s pure, vocally proficient version certainly dripped with despair, it sounds downright tame in comparison to Hank’s depressing take. Williams absolutely rips the song to its devastating core thanks to the harsh, unforgiving tone of his vocal. His cracked and shaky voice would likely cause many to balk in today’s perfection obsessed music industry, but it’s those unpolished imperfections that are the very essence of this performance, and Williams’ entire catalog. Inflecting a Jimmie Rodgers-inspired yodel with his signature honky tonk moan, he absolutely wrings the emotional ache from the lyrics by painfully stretching out the final word of each and every line.

As masterful an interpreter as he was a composer, Williams’ delivery proves to be a gritty and bare expose of this man’s pain, and offers up its own sense of musical beauty when combined with the honest, vulnerable nature of the song’s timeless lyric. It obviously connected with at the time with the country audience, who would soon coronate Williams as their new musical king. “Lovesick Blues” would become the singer’s first of 11 hits to perch at No. 1 on the country charts, and it charted there for a total of four glorious months. He delivered a historic performance of the song at the Grand Ole Opry in June of 1949 and finally secured membership to the storied institution. Although the self-destruction that would eventually cause his demise was already well underway, Williams made the most out of his time musically. Both the themes and the success of “Lovesick Blues” would set the stage for upcoming classics like “Cold, Cold Heart”, “You Win Again”, “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)”, and “Long Gone Lonesome Blues”. For the next four years, no other country star could touch Williams in terms of popularity or musical output.

Like many of Williams’ cherished classics, “Lovesick Blues” has gone onto become one of the most covered songs in the American music songbook. The seemingly endless list of artists who have offered interpretations of the standard is as diverse as it is long, and includes Slim Whitman, Floyd Cramer, Frank Ifield, Patsy Cline, Charley Pride, Glen Campbell, George Strait, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Etta James, Arlo Guthrie, Linda Ronstadt, Marty Robbins, Wanda Jackson, Don McLean, Tanya Tucker, LeAnn Rimes, Lacy J. Dalton, David Frizzell, Ryan Adams, and yes, even 2018’s viral yodeling sensation, Mason Ramsey. While many of those versions are worth seeking out, there is simply no matching Hank’s masterful standard.

To many of today’s country listeners (and artists), Hank Williams may be nothing but a small glimmer from the past whose only worth is to serve as a cheap song hook in shameless radio anthems. But for those who truly want to understand the power of his music and his importance to the world of country music and beyond, “Lovesick Blues” is a fine place to begin.