Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Calling You
2. Never Again (Will I Knock on Your Door)
3. Wealth Won't Save Your Soul
4. When God Comes and Gathers His Jewels
5. I Don't Care (If Tomorrow Never Comes)
6. My Love for You (Has Turned to Hate)
7. Honky Tonkin'
8. Pan American
9. Move It on Over
10. I Saw the Light
11. (Last Night) I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep
12. Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)
13. Fly Trouble
14. I'm Satisfied With You
15. On the Banks of the Old Pontchartrain
16. Rootie Tootie
17. I Can't Get You off of My Mind
18. I'm a Long Gone Daddy
19. Honky Tonkin'
20. My Sweet Love Ain't Around
21. Blues Come Around
22. Mansion on the Hill

Disc 2:

1. I'll Be a Bachelor 'Til I Die
2. There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight
3. Lovesick Blues
4. Lost on the River - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
5. I Heard My Mother Praying for Me - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
6. Lost Highway
7. May You Never Be Alone
8. Dear Brother - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
9. Jesus Remembered Me - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
10. Honky Tonk Blues
11. Mind Your Own Business
12. You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)
13. My Son Calls Another Man Daddy
14. Wedding Bells
15. I've Just Told Mama Goodbye
16. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
17. House Without Love
18. I Just Don't Like This Kind of Livin'
19. My Bucket's Got a Hole in it [Alternate Take]
20. My Bucket's Got a Hole in It
21. Long Gone Lonesome Blues
22. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)?
23. Why Should We Try Anymore
24. My Son Calls Another Man Daddy

Disc 3:

1. Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals
2. Beyond the Sunset
3. Funeral
4. Everything's Okay
5. They'll Never Take Her Love from Me
6. Nobody's Lonesome for Me
7. Moanin' the Blues
8. Help Me Understand
9. No, No Joe
10. Cold, Cold Heart
11. Dear John
12. Just Waitin'
13. Men With Broken Hearts
14. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)
15. Howlin' at the Moon
16. Hey, Good Lookin'
17. My Heart Would Know
18. Pale Horse and His Rider - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
19. Home in Heaven - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
20. Ramblin' Man
21. Picture from Life's Other Side
22. I've Been Down That Road Before
23. I Dreamed About Mama Last Night

Disc 4:

1. I'd Still Want You
2. (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle
3. Crazy Heart
4. Half as Much
5. I'd Still Want You
6. Baby, We're Really in Love
7. I'm Sorry for You, My Friend
8. Honky Tonk Blues
9. Let's Turn Back the Years
10. Window Shopping
11. Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
12. Settin' the Woods on Fire
13. I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
14. You Win Again
15. I Won't Be Home No More
16. Be Careful of Stones That You Throw
17. Please Make up Your Mind
18. I Could Never Be Ashamed of You
19. Your Cheatin' Heart
20. Kaw-Liga
21. Take These Chains from My Heart

Disc 5:

1. Happy Rovin' Cowboy [#]
2. Freight Train Blues [#]
3. San Antonio Rose [#]
4. I'm Not Coming Home Anymore
5. I Ain't Gonna Love You Anymore [#]
6. Won't You Sometimes Think of Me
7. Why Should I Cry
8. I Watched My Dream World Crumble Like Clay
9. I Told a Lie to My Heart
10. Mother Is Gone
11. In My Dreams You Still Belong to Me
12. We're Getting Closer to the Grave Each Day [#]
13. I'm Going Home [#]
14. Calling You [#]
15. Pan American
16. Wealth Won't Save Your Soul
17. Honky Tonk Blues
18. Home in Heaven [#]
19. You Broke Your Own Heart [#]
20. I'm So Tired of It All [#]

Disc 6:

1. You Caused It All by Telling Lies [#]
2. Faded Love and Winter Roses
3. Please Don't Let Me Love You
4. There's No Room in My Heart for the Blues
5. I Wish I Had a Nickel
6. Waltz of the Wind
7. At the First Fall of Snow
8. Leave Me Alone With the Blues
9. I'm Free at Last
10. Blue Love (In My Heart)
11. It Just Don't Matter Now
12. Little Paper Boy
13. Someday You'll Call My Name
14. Battle of Armageddon
15. No One Will Ever Know
16. With Tears in My Eyes
17. Thank God
18. Rock My Cradle Once Again
19. Don't Do It, Darling [#]

Disc 7:

1. Rockin' Chair Money [#]
2. Cool Water [#]
3. Tennessee Border [#]
4. First Year Blues [#]
5. My Main Trial Is Yet to Come [#]
6. Wait for the Light to Shine [#]
7. We Live in Two Different Worlds [#]
8. Roly Poly [#]
9. Swing Wide Your Gate of Love [#]
10. Dixie Cannonball [#]
11. Sundown and Sorrow
12. Devil's Train
13. Old Home
14. Alone and Forsaken
15. Heaven Holds All My Treasures
16. Lost on the River
17. House of Gold
18. Singing Waterfall
19. Dear Brother [#] - Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, Johnnie Wright
20. 'Neath a Cold Gray Tomb of Stone
21. Time Has Proven I Was Wrong [#] - Curley Williams, Hank Williams
22. No, Not Now - Curley Williams, Hank Williams
23. When You're Tired of Breaking Others Hearts
24. Honey Do You Love Me, Huh? [#]

Disc 8:

1. California Zephyr
2. Your Cheatin' Heart
3. You Better Keep It on Your Mind
4. How Can You Refuse Him Now?
5. Low Down Blues
6. Ten Little Numbers [#]
7. Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine
8. Last Night I Dreamed of Heaven
9. I Ain't Got Nothin' But Time
10. Message to My Mother
11. Fool About You
12. I'm Going Home [#]
13. Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
14. Ready to Go Home
15. Kaw-Liga [Demo With Two False Starts][#]
16. I Could Never Be Ashamed of You [#]
17. Angel of Death [#]
18. All the Love I Ever Had
19. We're Getting Closer to the Grave Each Day
20. Log Train
21. How to Write Folk & Western Music to Sell - Grant Turner, Hank Williams

Disc 9:

1. There's a Tear in My Beer
2. Alabama Waltz
3. Jesus Died for Me [#] - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
4. Teardrop on a Rose
5. Jesus Is Calling [#]
6. Wearing Out Your Walkin' Shoes
7. When the Book of Life Is Read
8. There's Nothing as Sweet as My Baby
9. (I'm Gonna) Sing, Sing, Sing [#]
10. I Can't Escape from You
11. Weary Blues from Waitin'
12. Are You Walkin' and Talkin' for the Lord [#]
13. If You'll Be a Baby to Me
14. 'Neath a Cold Gray Tomb of Stone
15. Lost Highway [#]
16. I'm a Long Gone Daddy [#]
17. Long Gone Lonesome Blues [#]
18. Help Me Understand [#] - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
19. When God Dips His Love in My Heart
20. They'll Never Take Her Love from Me [#]
21. Are You Walkin' and Talkin' for the Lord [#]
22. Honky Tonkin' [#]
23. I Cried Again [#]
24. Wild Side of Life [#]
25. Something Got a Hold of Me - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
26. Drifting Too Far from the Shore [#]

Disc 10:

1. Lovesick Blues [#]
2. Move It on Over [#]
3. You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)
4. I Just Don't Like This Kind of Livin'
5. Talk With Minnie Pearl
6. They'll Never Take Her Love from Me
7. Long Gone Lonesome Blues
8. Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)? [#]
9. Talk With Minnie Pearl
10. Moanin' the Blues
11. Nobody's Lonesome for Me
12. Dear John
13. Hey, Good Lookin'
14. Honky Tonk Blues [#]
15. Let the Spirit Descend [#]
16. Cold, Cold Heart [#]
17. Baby, We're Really in Love
18. Old Country Church
19. Tramp on the Street
20. I'll Have a New Body (I'll Have a New Life)
21. I Want to Live and Love - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
22. Where the Soul of Man Never Dies - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
23. Prodigal Son - Audrey Williams, Hank Williams
24. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You) [#] - Anita Carter,
25. Apology #2 [#]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9794 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-22
• Number of discs: 10
• Formats: Box set, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com's Best of 1998
Hank Williams rose to prominence at the exact middle of the 20th century, and this fact helps to explain why he remains such a unique figure in country music. Put simply, he is the thread that connects (however loosely) Jimmie Rodgers and Garth Brooks. This 10-CD mother lode brilliantly captures the essence of the man and his spellbinding music. The official studio takes provide the foundation, while the demos, outtakes, and live recordings are the putty in the gaps. --Marc Greilsamer

Amazon.com essential recording
After so many years of so many haphazard, oft-overdubbed, slapdash Hank Williams reissues, this lavish package seems truly an embarrassment of riches. Imagine being able to dip in and listen to the unadorned music from the whole of this pioneer's musical career, along with preserved historical spoken words. His career truly represents the major turning point in country music's history, and this box set--music and densely packed attendant memorabilia--is as much a social history of America at mid-20th century as it is a music document. Williams's recording career lasted only six years and he died tragically at age 29, but he left a musical and emotional legacy that grows year by year. To sketch the basics of The Complete Hank Williams: There are 10 CDs encompassing 225 cuts from all parts of his career--the demos, the radio shows, the Opry debut triumph. Musical revelations abound.... --Chet Flippo

Spin
The exhumation that Hank's acolytes desire began long before this beautiful box set. In the '80s, his label brushed off the "spew" of posthumous overdubs. Now, The Complete Hank Williams, packaged like a holy book with a concordance by Colin Escott, makes the purification total. Hank's as fresh as Lenin on may Day, ready for viewing, the key to country's red-dirt past and sign of a rock world to come.

Customer Reviews

One of the Few Box Sets That's Worth a Hundred Bucks
As the story goes, when Hank Williams died at the age of twenty-nine in 1953, a piece of paper was found on which was written;
"We met, me lived, and dear we loved,
then comes that fatal day,
the left that felt so dear fades away.
Tonight love hath one alone and lonesome,
all that I could sing,
I love you still and always will,
but that's the poison we have to pay."
This box set (the most solid overview of Williams' career released so far) contains over two hundred tracks that echo the joys and the heartaches that were reflected in that poem. A sprawling ten disc collection, "The Complete Hank Williams" is ideal for anyone who wants to obtain the largest collection of work that made him such a pionner (at one time that is). But there's also an intellectual value to the music within; these songs can be seen in many respects as Williams' autobiography. The man wrote a vast majority of his own music (something few country singers do these days), making it possible for country music to be used as a form of personal expression, as well as entertainment. It's a shame that today's country performers have shown very little of the excellence that came from this frail-looking man from Alabama.
In conclusion, it should be noted that there's a reason this is not titled "The Complete Alternates, Outtakes, and Rare Demos of Hank Williams." The more obsessive fans will find themselves upset that this box is not solely comprised of a slew of unnecessary "rare" selections. This is rather an overview of history; some of the greatest musical breakthroughs of the 20th Century have never been collected in a better place than this.

An absolute must to understand country music and Hank
With all the different re-issues of Hank Williams Sr's material over the years - sometimes lovingly done and other times dreadfully overdubbed, I am one of many thousands who waited patiently for years for a truly definitive collection of Williams' material (including live recordings, demos, alternate takes, etc known to exist but not issued for a variety of reasons, including legal complications).

The Polydor series went a long way, but this 10-CD answers those prayers, and moreso. Included here among the 225 tunes are recordings his most devoted fans didn't know existed. "Happy Roving Cowboy," Williams' theme song over his career is heard here on a pretend radio show sometime in 1939/40. His rendition of "Freight Train Blues," from 1940, imitates the version of his hero, Roy Acuff. "I'm Not Coming Home Anymore," from 1942 and thought until this release to be the earliest known recording by Williams, is especially noteworthy because it is stylistically like the Hank we recognize and clearly shows how early his "style" was formed.

And then there are the demo recordings. "Your Cheatin' Heart, with just Hank and his guitar, defines the man, his music and his effect on people. It grabs me in the pit of my stomach and gives me goose bumps. The power and emotion in his voice is such that having The Drifting Cowboys backup on the commercial release - however complimentary it is - detracts from focusing on Williams' voice, in my opinion. And there is so much more in this box set, more than any review could adequately discuss.

Complimenting this incredible package are a 2,500 word essay by Daniel Cooper and 17,500 word book of notes by Colin Escott, author of the definitive biography of Hank Williams. Special thanks must go to Kira Florita whose tireless efforts for the record label made this release possible.

Two "complaints" and one "get ready for:" The box set isn't the complete re-issue of Williams' previously released commercial recordings. But the number is tiny and only a quibble. There should have been a cover page listing everything on the ten CDs and how to locate specific recordings. This is a problem. The good news is that there may be another release of other Hank Williams material in 1999, including more "Mother Knows Best" shows - if the legal problems can be worked out - and other recordings which have surfaced since this fabulous box set was put together.

a disappointment
I love Hank Williams Sr's music which makes this so called "complete" set such a disappointment. The first four cds are essentially the "original singles collection". Ok, I expect some overlap. But the "Health and Happiness" radio show is NOT complete on this box set and yet is available on 2 cds from the same company that puts this box set out. The booklet fell apart the first day and the cds are stored in another booklet which is a great way to ruin your cds. So, now you need to purchase 10 jewel cases and I would have prefer that is how Mercury would have been pakaged them so you can follow the playlist as you listen-the way this company has it, you have to look at the book for the next song. Therefore even though the artist is my favorite, the title is deceptive and I wrote the company about the book falling apart but they never responded. If your just starting with Hank Sr. I would recommend the Original Singles Collection, then Health and Happiness , or Rare Demos. A less expensive start would be the "40 Greatest hits" and the gospel "I Saw the Light"cd. Eventually,"Luke the Drifter" would also have to be in there someplace. When you buy a box set from Bear Family and get great packaging, 32 page booklets, and completeness (such as Ernest Tubb's 6 cd "Waltz across Texas'or Vernon Oxfords "Keeper of the Flame") you realize what a great potential this box set had but failed , not because of Hanks great music, but the manipulation from Mercury.