Thank You Friends!

Hey everybody, this is the obligatory one-year anniversary post! Yes, my first official post appeared here one year ago today. Kind of hard to believe I've made it for a full year, since I'm making this up as I go. Anyway, it's been lots of work, lots of fun, and very educational. Thanks to your comments and e-mails I've learned more about music in the last twelve months than ever before. And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks...

Posts: 181
Page views: 212,406
Biggest day: 2,398 views (September 16, 2008)
Most popular post: Who Invented Country Rock?
Most popular song: Caitlin Rose - Dead Flowers (buy) (info)

Big thanks to all of the bloggers who have linked over here and given me so many great tips and ideas over the last year! You know who you are.

Here are some of my favorite songs:

Little Richard - Settin' The Woods On Fire (buy)
Porter Wagoner - Settin' The Woods On Fire (buy)
Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford - Settin' The Woods On Fire (buy)
George Jones - Settin' The Woods On Fire (buy)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Settin' The Woods On Fire
The Flatlanders - Settin' The Woods On Fire (buy)
Hank Williams - Settin' The Woods On Fire (buy)

Comb your hair and paint and powder
You act proud and I'll act prouder
You sing loud and I'll sing louder
Tonight were setting the woods on fire

You my gal and I'm your feller
Dress up in your frock of yeller
I'll look swell but you'll look sweller
Setting the woods on fire

We'll take in all the honkey tonks
Tonight were having fun
We'll show the folks a brand new dance
That never has been done

I don't care who thinks were silly
You be daffy and I'll be dilly
We'll order up to bowls of chili
Setting the woods on fire

I'll gas up my hot rod stocker
We'll get hotter than a poker
You'll be broke but I'll be broker
Tonight were setting the woods on fire

We'll sit close to one another
Up the one street and down the other
Well have a time o brother
Setting the woods on fire

We'll put aside a little time
To fix a flat or two
My tires and tubes are doing fine
But the air is showing through

You clap hands and I'll start bowing
We'll do all the laws allowin
Tomorrow I'll be right back plowing
Setting the woods on fire

As always, my mission will be accomplished when everybody loves Tom T. Hall. (But I might give up before then.)

[P.S. If anybody has discovered any new favorite music as a result of this blog, please let me know in the comments. It would make my day. After all, that's why I'm doing this.]

Hank Cover Friday: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whinin' low
I'm so lonesome I could cry



I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawlin' by
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry



Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die
That means he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry



The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry



The Cowboy Junkies' cover of I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, from their famous Trinity Sessions, is regarded as one of the best. I like the bass opening:

The Cowboy Junkies – I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (buy album)

Jimmie Dale Gilmore does a version in his classic West Texas twang:

Jimmie Dale Gilmore – I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (buy album)

One of my personal favorite Hank covers is Little Richard's unique rendering of the song:

Little Richard – I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (buy album)

And now for this week's sound effect: Whippoorwill call (mp3)