Hank Thompson - Hank Thompson & Friends

In this week's episode we're featuring an all-star duet album from Hank Thompson: "Hank Thompson & Friends" (2018). Originally released on Curb Records but becoming out of print shortly afterwards, our feature album was expanded and re-released on Heart Of Texas Records in 2018. In 1996/97, at the time that the original sessions were laid down, Hank Thompson hadn't been in studio for almost a decade. He must've thought that was too long, because Thompson became the driving force for our all-star duet feature album and he rounded up some of the 90s biggest stars to contribute to this project. The voices of Vince Gill, Brooks & Dunn, Lyle Lovett, Tanya Tucker, Marty Stuart and others were in their prime at the time this album was recorded and Hank Thompson, a Country Music Hall Of Famer at 72, was sounding pretty dang good too. After his passing in 2007, Hank's widow Ann Thompson Womack and her husband Ray uncovered a DAT tape of the entire session - and with the help of Heart Of Texas' label boss Tracy Pitcox, it was discovered that two extra tracks had been omitted: a Joe Diffie collaboration on "Been Down That Road" and a solo track in "The Bluest Rose In Texas Tonight". Expanded, re-packaged and re-released in 2018, you can add "Hank Thompson & Friends" to your collection today at www.hillbillyhits.com. Highlights are plentiful, and a few of the best include the written-for-the-purpose duet with George Jones on "Hey George, Hey Hank"; Thompson's last single and music video in "Gotta Sell Them Chickens" with Junior Brown and the jewel in the crown is the trio of Hank T., Kitty Wells and Tanya Tucker reliving "The Wild Side Of Life/It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels". Country music history never sounded better.