Product Description
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Time was when the Louisiana Hayride show at the Municipal
Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana was the place for country
music fans to be on a Saturday night. Just sixty cents for adults
(thirty for kids) bought the finest night's entertainment
anytime, anywhere. This set is a front-row seat as Hank Williams
takes to the stage, first as a relative newcomer and later as a
troubled superstar. Elvis Presley brings rockabilly to the
airwaves before anyone knew what he or his music was about. A
parade of home-grown and out-of-town country hitmakers tussle
with one another for encores, and encourage unknown newcomers who
would wow the audience with their songs and performances most
nights. These long-buried musical performances are brought to
life in chronological order interspersed with some of the
announcements, intros, ads, comedy routines and mistakes that
went to make up a live show in those days. Not least, we can hear
Elvis Presley's epoch-changing music as it was originally
heard-as part of a country variety show. At The Louisiana Hayride
Tonight - Eighteen CDs chronicle the weekly Hayride. Two bonus
CDs sample some of the post-1960 shows together with commercial
s made in the KWKH radio studios, promotional discs and
transcribed shows from KWKH's early days. These 20 CDs comprise
over 25 hours of music captured on-stage in the 1940s, '50s, and
'60s at KWKH's legendary Louisiana Hayride radio show. At The
Louisiana Hayride Tonight - Staged live in Shreveport, the
Hayride featured national country music stars, soon-to-be
legends, regional break-outs, and talented newcomers.
Review
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From 1948 to 1960, the Louisiana Hayride served as a launching
pad for many of the greatest stars in country music, with artists
such as Hank Williams, Jim Reeves, and Johnny Cash appearing on
the powerful radio airwaves of KWKH AM 1130 in Shreveport,
Louisiana. In addition to those artists -- who later found their
fame and fortune in Nashville -- the show also proved to be
beneficial to a truck driver from Memphis named Elvis Presley who
was told by Grand Ole Opry management not to give up his day job.
Those artists and others like them made country music history,
but for the most part, many of those Hayride performances haven't
been heard since their initial broadcast.
Thanks to Bear Family Records, music aficionados now have the
chance to hear a little bit of history with the release of the
expansive 20-CD set titled At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight. The
box contains a staggering 559 cuts, with many rarities,
including:
An unreleased of Hank Williams performing ''I'm A Long
Gone Daddy.''
11 'as live' studio-recorded transcriptions, including Kitty
Wells, Johnnie and Jack, Hank Williams, and Curley Williams.
Live performances from many of country music's most colorful
characters, including Cousin Emmy, Bill Carlisle, Faron Young,
and George Jones, who is featured on several cuts, including a
performance of his 1955 career breakthrough ''Why Baby Why.''
Live commercial ads that appeared on the original broadcasts,
including future superstar Johnny Cash plugging Southern Maid
Donuts as the ''best in the world.''
The set is the largest country collection ever released by Bear
Family, which has released career overviews from artists such as
Buck Owens, The Osborne Brothers, and Connie Smith. Martin
Hawkins, who co-produced the set, says that if you are used to
the high level of excellence of Bear Family releases, you won't
be disappointed.
''When Bear Family puts out anything, they always like to do it
top quality with no expense spared,'' Hawkins told Billboard.
''The man who founded the company loved country and rock n' roll
so much that he wanted to do it very properly.''
When the idea was presented to Hawkins, he knew that it was going
to take some time and care and a lot of discs. ''The company got
access to hundreds of hours of live s from the program,
wanted to put a box set together, and wanted to know if I would
work on it. It took me about two years to plow through all of the
music. I sent a message saying that if the company wanted to do
this thing properly, it's probably going to take about twenty
CDs. They came back to me and said 'If that's what it takes, then
that's what we will do.' Even with the twenty discs, we just
scratched the surface of everything that is available.''
In addition to the music, there is a 224-page hardcover book with
rare photos of the artists involved in the show, as well as a
little bit of rock n' roll history such as the night when one
star made his last performance on the show. ''Horace Logan was
the first emcee on the Hayride job,'' Hawkins says. ''In 1956,
when Elvis Presley played his last show on the Hayride, he had
actually been off for some months, and came back to do a special
one-off show for charity. The crowd went completely crazy, but
they still had two hours or so to go, so Horace came back out
with the famous phrase 'Elvis has left the building.''' He notes
it was the first time that phrase was uttered. ''So you can hear
the full version of that on the set.''
All in all, Hawkins is very proud that the set is available to
music fans who might not be aware of other radio shows of the
time besides the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. ''This is the
biggest project that I've been involved with. I did a 12-CD set
on Sun Record.'', and some other country and blues boxes, but
this one is twice the size...'' --Billboard Magazine