Jody Payne, at the BackYard 2008. Thanks to Cherie, from Texas, for this photo.
http://news.cincinnati.com
by Lauren Bishop
Sixty-one years ago Monday, 26-year-old Hank Williams walked up to the second floor of 811 Race St. in Downtown Cincinnati and made music history.
The building, the former home of the E.T. Herzog Recording Co., is where Williams recorded “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “A House Without Love,” “I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Livin'” and “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It” on Aug. 30, 1949, eight months after he recorded four other country classics there, including “Lovesick Blues.”
Monday night, in honor of that second historic recording session, the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation will put on a tribute and fundraising concert called “Hank to Thank” in that very same building – the only remaining structure where Williams recorded professionally.
The concert features the Cincinnati-based country rockers the Dallas Moore Band with Alabama-based guitarist Jody Payne, a Norwood High School graduate who has played with such country legends as Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Merle Haggard.
Payne, 74, says he’s honored that Moore – whom Payne met when Moore opened for Willie Nelson years ago – asked him to be part of Monday’s event.
“I’ve had a real good career, and we’ve made music history, and this is going to be some more music history,” Payne says.
Born to a sharecropping family in Garrard County, Ky., Payne learned to play guitar from his father and started touring with bluegrass musician Charlie Monroe when he was just 14. His family relocated to Cincinnati so Payne could perform here and finish high school.
Payne says his all-time favorite lyrics come from Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”: “The silence of a falling star lights up a purple sky/And as I wonder where you are, I’m so lonesome I could cry.”
“His simplicity was so complex, it’s unreal,” Payne says. “Those people don’t come along very often.”
Moore, 40, grew up listening to Williams records played by his mother, who went to high school with Payne and recorded at Herzog studios in the early 1950s with the Buckeye Bells. And his left arm bears a tattoo of Williams in his hat above the musical notes to “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”
Moore has said the band will play a mix of original songs and Williams covers at Monday’s show. Payne also promises some surprises.
“I know we’ll make Hank proud,” he says.
The proceeds from the event will benefit the Music Heritage Foundation’s efforts to turn the space into its headquarters and use it for recordings, performances and exhibits.
The concert will be recorded with plans for a CD and DVD release on Lawrenceburg, Ind.-based SOL Records, the Dallas Moore Band’s label.