> I'm about halfway thru Colin Escott's excellent Hank book and am
> intrigued by his mentioning a song that Hank and Bill Monroe wrote
> together. Since I don't have the book, I can't rememeber the name
> or the exact credit (credited to Ferlin B. Smith or some such), but
> I'd never heard this before. Anyone have any more info about this?
That's "I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome," credited to James B. Smith; Monroe, at
least, used a number of pseudonyms, including Joe Ahr and Albert Price.
Monroe recorded it on 2/3/50, with Jimmy Martin, Rudy Lyle on banjo, Joel
Price on bass and Vassar Clements on the fiddle. Alison Krauss and Dan
Tyminski did an absolutely stunning version of the song on the Prime Time
Country episode devoted to Monroe that was aired shortly after he passed
away.
"I worked 21 days with Bill, with Little Jimmy Dickens, got to ride the bus
and sing with Hank Williams. Well, Hank sung a song about the lonesome sigh
of a train going by, I’m blue, I’m lonesome too. And I learnt that lonesome
touch from Hank Williams, I said to myself, I’m going to put a little Hank
in his own song. And when Bill sang tenor, Bill would say, well, put as of
that break in your voice like that and I’ll put it in mine, you see." --
Jimmy Martin
It seems like I heard somewhere that Williams wrote the verse and Monroe
wrote the bridge, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
