{"id":14945,"date":"2019-05-06T23:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T05:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1806092"},"modified":"2019-05-06T23:00:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T05:00:43","slug":"cmt-honors-70th-anniversary-of-hank-williams-first-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/cmt-honors-70th-anniversary-of-hank-williams-first-no-1\/","title":{"rendered":"CMT Honors 70th Anniversary of Hank Williams\u2019 First No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:673020?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">28m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R46WSbXpMpE?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R46WSbXpMpE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Seventy years ago today (May 7), an eager young Alabaman named <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/hank-williams\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Hank Williams<\/a> scored his first Billboard No. 1 with \u201cLovesick Blues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was Williams\u2019 fifth single to chart since he signed with MGM Records in 1947. Two others \u2014 \u201cMove It on Over\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m a Long Gone Daddy\u201d had come tantalizingly close to the top, peaking at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively. But the prime real estate still eluded him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLovesick Blues\u201d had been kicking around for more than a quarter of a century by the time Williams recorded it just before Christmas 1948 at a studio in Cincinnati. In fact, it was a year older than Williams himself. Written in 1922 by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills, it became a modestly popular record for minstrel singer Emmett Miller in 1925 and for country crooner Rex Griffin in 1939.<\/p>\n<p>Williams, who modeled his yodel-powered version on Griffin\u2019s, first performed the song while a member of the Louisiana Hayride. The crowd\u2019s euphoric reaction convinced him he should put it on record. MGM released the single in February 1949 to considerable critical praise. According to music historian Michael Kosser, it sold 50,000 copies within its first two weeks of availability. It also netted Williams a guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry and became the crowd-pleaser with which he closed most of his shows.<\/p>\n<p>Before he died in the back of his Cadillac on Jan. 1, 1953 at the age of 29, Williams saw six more of his songs reach the top \u2014 \u201cLong Gone Lonesome Blues,\u201d \u201cWhy Don\u2019t You Love Me,\u201d \u201cMoanin\u2019 the Blues,\u201d \u201cCold, Cold Heart,\u201d \u201cHey, Good Lookin\u2019\u201d and \u201cJambalaya (on the Bayou).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Four more went to No. 1in the year following his death \u2014 \u201cI\u2019ll Never Get Out of this World Alive,\u201d \u201cKaw-Liga,\u201d \u201cYour Cheatin\u2019 Heart\u201d and \u201cTake These Chains from My Heart.\u201d Of his 11 chart-toppers, Williams wrote or co-wrote nine.<\/p>\n<p>In 2004, Willliams\u2019 version of \u201cLovesick Blues\u201d was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1806092\/cmt-honors-70th-anniversary-of-hank-williams-first-no-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 28m ago Embedded from www.youtube.com. [embedded content] Seventy years ago today (May 7), an eager young Alabaman named Hank Williams scored his first Billboard No. 1 with \u201cLovesick Blues.\u201d It was Williams\u2019 fifth single to chart since he signed with MGM Records in 1947. Two others \u2014 \u201cMove It on Over\u201d and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 11:34:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}