Jack Cardwell "The Death Of Hank Williams" Single Of The Day

Greetings from Asheville, where good music is always on the turntable.  Whenever someone of legendary proportions passes away, it’s a guarantee that there will be tribute songs.  And with the passing of the legendary George Jones just a couple of days ago, it won’t be long until tribute songs to him will be on the market.  More often than not, these songs are bad and quickly fade into permanent obscurity.  There are exceptions, though.  For instance, Merle Haggard’s “From Graceland To The Promiseland” as well as Ronnie McDowell’s “The King Is Gone”, both successful tributes to Elvis.  Then, there’s been numerous songs about the legendary Hank Williams, of which several have been somewhat successful, including today’s Single Of The Day.

Like Hank, Jack Cardwell was an Alabama native who found some success on the radio, before being signed to the King Record label.  Jack’s second release was a rush job, released just weeks after the death of the legendary Williams.  ”The Death Of Hank Williams” made it’s chart debut in February, 1953, quickly climbing as high as three on the charts.  The single reportedly sold well, some stories claim as high as half a million copies.

Unfortunately, the success of the record didn’t translate into a long string of hits, in fact, Jack would chart only one more time, later in 1953 with “Dear Joan”, an answer song to the Jean Shepard/Ferlin Husky hit, “A Dear John Letter”.

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Jack Cardwell "The Death Of Hank Williams" Single Of The Day