Beyond The Sunset

Performer: Hank Williams
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Compilation producers: Colin Escott, Kira Florita. Recorded between 1950 & 1952. Includes liner notes by Colin Escott. Digitally remastered by Suha Gur (Universal Mastering Studios East). BEYOND THE SUNSET collects all the recordings Hank Williams made as his artistic (and on some level psychological) alter ego Luke the Drifter on one disc. Mostly, these are recitations rather than songs (although the edgy, minor-key "Ramblin' Man" is sung) and with a few exceptions, like the funny, anti-Stalin "No, No Joe," they're either unrelentingly bleak and despairing ("Men With Broken Hearts") or else cautionary tales ("I've Been Down That Road Before") presenting the sort of hard-won advice that Williams could dish out but not really take. Highlights include the now hopelessly politically incorrect but nonetheless heartfelt "The Funeral," and "Too Many Parties," a depressing one-act morality play co-written, oddly enough, by the same up-beat Tin Pan Alley denizen responsible for "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover."

The Robert Johnson of country, Hank Williams was a troubled visionary who hung around just long enough to change the face of American music forever. He added electric instruments and touches of Western swing and proto-rockabilly to the post-hillbilly sound of his idol Roy Acuff, writing a wealth of unforgettable tunes along the way. In the late 1940s and early '50s, Williams rose to fame with a series of these chart-topping hits, including "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Hey, Good Lookin'." Though Williams' hard living caught up with him in 1953, his legacy lives on in his timeless songs and the legions of musicians he inspired.

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