If you don’t know where the lyrics of “It’s good enough for me” come from, you either missed Sunday School a few times or don’t know Americana. There’s an old hymn “Give Me That Old Time Religion” that summarizes this two disc set of the legendary Hank Williams, compiling his radio broadcasts of gospel radio recordings from 1951. He’s with his band of Jerry Rivers/fi, Sammy Pruett/g, Hoard Watts/b, Don Helms/stg and Audrey Williams/voc while Hank himself is leading the Sunday service.
The music is delivered by a man who knows sin, salvation and forgiveness, growing up in a rural environment that had a church on every corner. These are the songs of Williams’ childhood, with plaintive harmonies, heartfelt messages from the Bible, and a vision of life beyond the grave. There is hope in the everlasting, a rebuke of passing present passions, and an eternal perspective on life. Unlike today’s singers, Williams sings it like he means it, as he must have been wrestling with demons his entire life, dying of a heart attack only a couple years later. This is a side of Williams that fills out the suite of the man who sang “Hey, Good Looking” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart”. If nothing else, it reminds us that Williams, like the rest of us, is wise not to trust in man alone, or this life on earth, for any lasting joy. Essential sounds and messages.