Some years ago, MGM Records issued an LP of 11 Hank Williams Opry performances originally recorded for broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. Years of digging have unearthed much more Hank at the Ryman in crystal-clear monaural sound. Disc 1's 19 songs, punctuated by onstage joshing with singer Red Foley and Opry comics Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield, begin with his June 1949 debut as an Opry regular, ending in July 1952, a month before his firing over drinking-related no-shows.
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