The World Famous Ultimate Twang: "Favorite Waltzes By Hank Thompson" Classic Album Review

Greetings from Asheville, where the good music is always found. Today’s Classic Album Review takes you all the way back to the end of 1958, for a release from the legendary Hank Thompson. Favorite Waltzes By Hank Thompson was his eighth Capitol release, entering the market in December, after having been recorded over a span of several days in April, 1958. There were no singles included on the release, and no chart information for the album, as the country album charts were still a few years away.

The album is a mix of vocal and instrumental pieces, and side one opens with one of the vocal tracks, a cover of the popular 1947 Clyde Moody recording, “Shenandoah Valley Waltz”. This track features the typically outstanding work of Hank and his Brazos Valley Boys, as the playing (as it is throughout the album) is stellar and Hank’s vocals are dead-on.

“Wednesday Night Waltz” dates to the 1930′s, when several popular versions were released by numerous country music bands. One of the best things about this, and the album’s other instrumentals, is that it puts the spotlight on one of the finest backing groups ever heard in country music, The Brazos Valley Boys.

Next, Hank Thompson covers the Cowboy Copas hit “Signed, Sealed, And Delivered”, producing a very smooth sound that is a delight to hear.

Even though it’s an album of waltzes, “The Skater’s Waltz” may not be a song you’d expect to hear from a group known more for it’s honky-tonk/western swing mix. Yet, here it is, one of the most famous melodies ever heard and performed rather impressively.

One of the album’s best tracks is “Warm Red Wine”. Simply an outstanding performance for Hank Thompson.

Side one ends with “50 Year Ago Waltz”. It’s a nice melody, but the song seems to drag a bit and my interest waned before it was over.

Side two opens with another vocal track, “In The Valley Of The Moon”. It’s not the strongest side on the disc, but an okay track. Slower in tempo, as is most of the album.

“La Zinda Waltz” is another nice melody performed exceptionally well by the Brazos Valley Boys.

No doubt that “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” was a good choice in 1958, as the song from 1910, was still popular among the older generation of music lovers. Including an old-style piano sound into the mix was a great idea, here, as were the backing vocals, making for a nice, smooth, rich sound.

“The Anniversary Waltz” has a sound that has a bit of a Russian feel to it, with it’s minor keying. It also features some outstanding steel guitar work, too.

On “What Will I Do Next Monday” Hank is wondering what to do on Monday, after his girl get married on Sunday (not to him, of course). More of that piano sound can be heard, here, too. In fact, the overall feel is very similar to “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”. Almost as good of a track, as well.

The album’s final track, “Gold And Silver Waltz” goes back to more of the western swing kind of sound you expect from Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys. Here, the piano, the trumpets (heard on a couple of tracks), and backing vocals are gone. Simply good steel and fiddle work, here, mixed with some solid electric guitar work.

Originally released on vinyl (both 33 1/3, as well as a 45 EP), this album is long out of print. Used copies are not too difficult to find; the ones I located ranged widely in price from around $5, to as high as $40.

Overall, this is a rather interesting album. When you take each track, individually, each one is strong enough to stand on it’s own, all highlighting the stellar work that always came from Hank’s band, as well as great vocal abilities by Hank, himself. On the other hand, trying to listen to twelve cuts of similarly tempo’d waltzes does get rather monotonous, after awhile. Probably easier to listen to in bits and pieces. I rate it a 3.5 out of 5.

Your thoughts?

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