Previously Unheard Music From Hank Williams to Be Released

It's been 61 years since Hank Williams passed away, but a collection of never--before-released songs by the country music legend, 'The Garden Spot Programs, 1950,' will be available next month from Omnivore Recordings.

The 24-track album includes some of Williams' previous hits, including 'Lovesick Blues' and 'Mind Your Own Business,' as well as some tunes he rarely, if ever, performed live. The songs were taken from shows originally aired more than six decades ago, and restored from original transcripts.

“It’s incredible to me that we’re still finding new recordings by my dad -- great ones at that,” his daughter, Jett Williams, says. “No one even suspected that these recordings existed. We partnered with Omnivore Recordings for this release, and I especially love it that they're taking my dad back to vinyl.”

The CD packaging of the new collection contains rare photos and liner notes from the collection of set co-producer and Williams biographer Colin Escott.

“Set the time machine for early morning on KSIB-AM, Creston, Iowa. February 1950," Escott writes in the album. "Country radio was beginning its slow transition from live music to DJ shows. Live music and DJ shows were augmented by transcribed shows. After buying 15 minutes of airtime on small-market stations, sponsors would prerecord shows with well known artists, duplicate them, and ship them out on 12 or 16-inch transcribed discs.”

“That’s how Hank Williams came to be on KSIB in February 1950," he adds. "Sandwiched between the local ‘live’ acts, it was almost as if he were visiting with Skeets and those Radio Rascals. His sponsor was one of the nation’s largest plant nurseries, Naughton Farms, seven hundred miles south in Waxahachie, Texas. Given that Naughton was a big player in the nursery business, Hank’s shows were almost certainly shipped to many small stations, but only KSIB’s copies survived. Those of us who have studied Hank’s life and career had no idea that these recordings existed.”

The first pressing of the LP version of the record will be on limited edition, translucent red vinyl (with black vinyl to follow), containing Escott’s informative notes and a download card. In honor of National Record Store Day tomorrow (April 19), a collectible 10” vinyl  Record Store Day EP sampler will be available in advance of the full project, which will be released on May 20.

See a complete track listing below, and order the 'The Garden Spot Programs, 1950' here

Hankk Williams, 'The Garden Spot Programs, 1950' Track Listing:

1. 'The Garden Spot Jingle'
2. 'Lovesick Blues'
3. 'A Mansion on the Hill'
4. 'Fiddle Tune'
5. 'I've Just Told Mama Goodbye'
6. 'Closing/Oh! Susanna'
7. 'The Garden Spot Jingle'
8. 'Mind Your Own Business'
9. 'Lovesick Blues'
10. 'Fiddle Tune'
11. 'At the First Fall of Snow'
12. 'Closing/Oh! Susanna'
13. 'The Garden Spot Jingle'
14. 'I Can't Get You Off of My Mind'
15. 'I Don't Care (If Tomorrow Never Comes)'
16. 'Fiddle Tune'
17. 'Farther Along'
18. 'Closing/Oh! Susanna'
19. 'The Garden Spot Jingle'
20. 'I’ll Be a Bachelor ’Til I Die'
21. 'Wedding Bells'
22. 'Fiddle Tune'
23. 'Jesus Remembered Me'
24. 'Closing/Oh! Susanna'