13
Charlie Louvin Finds Support in the Grass Roots
Last week it was announced that Charlie Louvin who just turned 83, has been diagnosed with stage 2 pancreatic cancer. Charlie has a six hour surgery scheduled at the Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville on July 22nd, two days after his new album Hickory Wind : Live at the Gram Parsons Guitar Pull, Waycross GA is released.
Being the tough guy that Charlie is, he’s already planning to start touring again by August 21st if all goes right, and when he does, it will not be a big shot booking agency filling Charlie’s calendar, but an agency who books bands like Joe Buck and The .357 String Band, that being the Bucket City Agency.
Charlie Louvin, just like many aging country music greats, is finding a soft landing in the grass roots built by Outlaw and underground country artists. As radio support and media coverage dwindles, labels, booking agencies, and managers who are tooled to deal with smaller-sized performers rise up to meet the task. Many greats like Charlie are also finding that their fan base is filling with younger folks, and that they get better turnout at venues that typically cater to younger crowds and rock bands. Just like in the 70′s, when the Outlaws created a strange mix of cowboys and hippies, these older artists are mixing old with young fans.
And Charlie isn’t the only one. Bucket City also books the 90-year-old T-Model Ford. When Merle Haggard went to release his album If I Could Only Fly he did so under punk label Epitaph Records, home of the bands Bad Religion and Rancid. Charlie explained his issues with label and radio support in a must-read article by Juli Thanki:
“When I was on the road, people would say “I wish you’d record again.” So I’d go home, wipe the savings account out and record the CD. Of course, I’m too poor to send a copy to 3500 disc jockeys, and most radio stations won’t play an indie label period, no matter who sings it. So you see those same people a year later and they’d say “I thought you were going to put out a CD,” and I’d say, “I did, about nine months ago.””
“They don’t grade what they play by the quality of its content. They play it because the person who’s singing it is young, and cute…And it seems that the major labels own most of the radio stations…Radio is supposed to be a community project, and too many stations are getting their orders from somewhere else. And what New York City would like isn’t necessarily what Manchester, Tennessee would want to hear.”
When Hank Williams III first signed with Curb Records, they sent him to Branson to cut his country teeth. One of the acts he opened for was Charlie Louvin. Hank III later paid his respects by adding a portion of the Louvin Brothers gospel hit “Satan is Real” to the beginning of his song “Straight to Hell.”
Our thoughts are with Charlie and his family, and we look forward to seeing him back out on the road soon!
13
Hank Williams Steel Guitar Player & Big Wayne IN YOUR FACE!!!
This is Big Wayne:
Big Wayne likes beer. He also likes Hank Williams and Hank Williams III.
But Big Wayne is confused.
He doesn’t understand why Hank Williams is not a member of the Grand Ole Opry, even though they use his image, likeness, and songs to promote themselves. He doesn’t understand why a man that did so much for such an important country music institution, cannot be given the rightful gesture of reinstating him.
Big Wayne is asking you: Have you signed the petition to reinstate Hank Williams to the Grand Ole Opry at reinstatehank.org?
Well have you punk ?!?!?
Something tells me if you haven’t, you may want to amble on over there and get that done.
We don’t want to make Big Wayne mad, now do we?
Don Helms, Hank Sr.’s Steel Guitar Player Suffers Heart Attack:
I got the heads up about this from Mr. Bandana
You may of never heard the name Don Helms, but if you’ve found your way to this dark corner of the internet, you’ve heard him:
“Don Helms, a legendary steel guitarist who played on most of Hank Williams’ recordings, was hospitalized in an intensive care unit earlier this week, after suffering a heart attack and a stroke over the Fourth of July weekend.
A note was posted on the TwangTownUSA. com website by Michael Panasuk, of CPR Records, saying the stroke and heart attack were “mild.” “We firmly believe he’s going to recover,” Panasuk wrote. “We’re just not sure how long it will take.”
Don, a Nashville resident who turned 91 in February, joined Hank’s Original Drifting Cowboys in 1949 and soon appeared on a host of classic recordings by one of country’s most significant singer-songwriters. Among the Hank hits that featured Don’s steel were “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Hey Good Lookin’,” “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You),” “Kaw-Liga” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”
But Don didn’t just impact Hank’s music. He also appeared on such landmarks as Lefty Frizzell’s “The Long Black Veil,” Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight” and Ray Price’s “I’ve Got A New Heartache,” plus sessions by Loretta Lynn, Red Foley, Ernest Tubb, the Louvin Brothers and Brenda Lee.”
Don Helms Playing with Hank Williams on the Grand Ole Opry (watch for his break at about 2:05)
Don Helms ‘Cold Cold Heart” Solo 1968:
Don Helms this last November, playing the same guitar he played with Hank Williams, and on Patsy Cline’s ‘Walking After Midnight’, the classic ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ many many other legendary tunes:
So let’s keep this country hero in our thoughts, and hope that he gets to see the day that his ol’ buddy Hank Williams gets reinstated to the Opry.
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