Hank Thompson

Henry William Thompson (September 3, 1925 – November 6, 2007) was an American country music singer-songwriter and musician whose career spanned seven decades.

Thompson's musical style, characterized as honky-tonk Western swing, was a mixture of fiddles, electric guitar, and steel guitar that featured his distinctive, smooth baritone vocals.

His backing band, the Brazos Valley Boys, was voted the top Country Western Band for 14 years in a row by Billboard. Thompson pursued a "light" version of the Western swing sound that Bob Wills and others played; the primary difference between his music and that of Wills was that Thompson, who used the swing beat and instrumentation to enhance his vocals, discouraged the intense instrumental soloing from his musicians that Wills encouraged; however, the "Hank Thompson sound" exceeded Bob Wills in top-40 country hits.

Although not as prominent on the top country charts in later decades, Thompson remained a recording artist and concert draw well into his 80s.

The 1987 novel Crazy Heart by Thomas Cobb was inspired by Thompson's life, specifically by his practice of picking up a local band to back him when he toured. In 2009, Cobb's novel was turned into a successful film directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeff Bridges in an Academy Award-winning performance.

Biography Life Born in Waco, Texas, United States, Thompson was interested in music from an early age, and won several amateur harmonica contests. He decided to pursue his musical talent after serving in the United States Navy in World War II as a radioman and studying electrical engineering at Princeton University before his discharge. He had intended to continue those studies on the GI Bill following his 1946 discharge, and return to Waco. then joined Warner Bros. Records, where he remained from 1966 through 1967. From 1968 through 1980, he recorded for Dot Records and its successors, ABC Dot and MCA Records. In 1997, Thompson released Hank Thompson and Friends, a collection of solo tracks and duets with some of country music's most popular performers. In 2000, he released a new album, Seven Decades, on the Hightone label. The title reflected his recording history from the 1940s to 2000s.

Thompson was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989,

Discography Albums Year Album US Country Label 1952 Hank Thompson Favorites — Capitol 1955 Songs of the Brazos Valley — North of the Rio Grande — 1956 New Recordings of Hank Thompson's All-Time Hits — 1957 Hank! — 1958 Hank Thompson's Dance Ranch — 1959 Favorite Waltzes by Hank Thompson — Songs for Rounders — 1960 Most of All — This Broken Heart of Mine — 1961 An Old Love Affair — At the Golden Nugget — 1962 The No. 1 Country & Western Band — Cheyenne Frontier Days — 1963 The Best of Hank Thompson — At the State Fair of Texas — 1964 Golden Country Hits 6 It's Christmas Time with Hank Thompson — 1965 Breakin' in Another Heart 18 Luckiest Heartache in Town 17 1966 A Six Pack to Go 19 Breakin' the Rules 22 Where Is the Circus 6 Warner Bros. 1967 The Best of Hank Thompson Vol. 2 34 Capitol The Countrypolitan Sound — Warner Bros. The Gold Standard Collection of Hank Thompson 42 Just an Old Flame — Capitol 1968 Hank Thompson Sings the Gold Standards — Dot On Tap, in the Can, or in the Bottle 42 1969 Smoky the Bar 16 Hank Thompson Salutes Oklahoma 38 1971 Next Time I Fall in Love (I Won't) 22 Hank Thompson's 25th Anniversary Album 24 1972 Cab Driver (A Salute to the Mills Brothers) 10 Hank Thompson's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 34 1973 Kindly Keep It Country 22 1974 Moving On 37 1975 Sings Nat King Cole — 1976 Back in the Swing of Things 48 1977 The Thompson Touch — Doin' My Things — 1978 Brand New Hank — ABC 1980 Take Me Back to Tulsa — MCA 1982 One Thousand and One Nighters — Churchill 1986 Hank Thompspn — Dot/MCA 1988 Here's to Country Music — Step One 1997 Real Thing: Hank Thompson and Friends — Curb 2000 Seven Decades — Hightone 2013 Pathway of My Life — Bear Family

Singles Year Single Chart Positions Album US Country US CAN Country 1948 "Humpty Dumpty Heart" 2 — — singles only "Yesterday's Mail" 12 — — "Green Light" 7 — — 1949 "What Are We Gonna Do About the Moonlight" 10 — — "I Find You Cheatin' on Me" 14 — — "You Broke My Heart (In Little Bitty Pieces)" 15 — — "Whoa Sailor" 6 — — "Soft Lips" 10 — — "The Grass Looks Greener Over Yonder" 15 — — 1952 "The Wild Side of Life" 1 27 — Hank Thompson Favorites "Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart" 3 — — "The New Wears Off Too Fast" 10 — — singles only 1953 "You're Walking On My Heart" — 21 — "No Help Wanted" 9 — — "Rub-a-Dub-Dub" 1 — — Songs of the Brazos Valley "Yesterday's Girl" 8 — — "Wake Up, Irene" 1 — — singles only 1954 "Breakin' the Rules" 10 — — "A Fooler, a Faker" 9 — — "Honky-Tonk Girl" 9 — — "We've Gone Too Far" 10 — — "The New Green Light" (re-recording) 3 — — 1955 "If Lovin' You Is Wrong" 12 — — "Annie Over" 13 — — "Wildwood Flower" (with Merle Travis) 5 — — "Breakin' In Another Heart" 7 — — "Most of All" 6 — — "Don't Take It Out on Me" 5 — — "Honey, Honey Bee Ball" flip — — 1956 "The Blackboard of My Heart" 4 — — "I'm Not Mad, Just Hurt" 14 — — 1957 "Rockin' in the Congo" 13 — — "I Was the First One" flip — — "Tears Are Only Rain" 14 — — 1958 "How Do You Hold a Memory" 11 — — "Squaws Along the Yukon" 2 — — "I've Run Out of Tomorrows" 7 — — 1959 "You're Going Back to Your Old Ways Again" 26 — — "Anybody's Girl" 13 — — "Total Strangers" 25 — — "I Didn't Mean to Fall in Love" 22 — — At the Golden Nugget 1960 "A Six Pack to Go" 10 102 — "She's Just a Whole Lot Like You" 14 99 — 1961 "Oklahoma Hills" 7 — — Cheyenne Frontier Days "Teach Me How to Lie" 25 — — "Hangover Tavern" 12 — — 1962 "I Cast a Lonesome Shadow" — — single only 1963 "I Wasn't Even in the Running" 23 — — Luckiest Heartache in Town "Too in Love" 22 — — single only 1964 "Twice as Much" 45 — — Luckiest Heartache in Town 1965 "Then I'll Start Believing in You" 42 — — 1966 "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" — 134 — Golden Country Hits "Where Is the Circus" 15 — — Where Is the Circus 1967 "He's Got a Way with Women" 16 — — On Tap, in the Can, Or in the Bottle 1968 "On Tap, in the Can, Or in the Bottle" 7 — 12 "Smoky the Bar" 5 — 9 Smoky the Bar 1969 "I See Them Everywhere" 47 — — "The Pathway of My Life" 46 — — Next Time I Fall in Love (I Won't) "Oklahoma Home Brew" 60 — — Hank Thompson Salutes Oklahoma 1970 "But That's All Right" 54 — — Next Time I Fall in Love (I Won't) "One of the Fortunate Few" 69 — — 1971 "Next Time I Fall in Love (I Won't)" 15 — 36 "The Mark of a Heel" 18 — 18 "I've Come Awful Close" 11 — 19 Hank Thompson's 25th Anniversary Album 1972 "Cab Driver" 16 — 13 Cab Driver (A Salute to the Mills Brothers) "Glow Worm" 53 — — 1973 "Roses in the Wine" 70 — — single only "Kindly Keep It Country" 48 — 45 Kindly Keep It Country 1974 "The Older the Violin, The Sweeter the Music" 8 — 4 "Who Left the Door to Heaven Open" 10 — 12 Moving On 1975 "Mama Don't 'Low" 29 — — "That's Just My Truckin' Luck" 70 — — single only "Mona Lisa" — — — Sings Nat King Cole 1976 "Asphalt Cowboy" 72 — — single only "Big Band Days" 86 — — Back in the Swing of Things 1977 "Honky Tonk Girl" (re-recording) 91 — — "Just an Old Flame" 92 — — The Thompson Touch 1978 "I'm Just Gettin' By" 92 — — Brand New Hank 1979 "Dance with Me Molly" 88 — — "I Hear the South Callin' Me" 29 — 47 1980 "Tony's Tank-Up, Drive-In Cafe" 32 — 42 "You're Poppin' Tops" — — — Take Me Back to Tulsa "King of Western Swing" — — — 1981 "Rockin' in the Congo" (re-recording) 82 — — One Thousand and One Nighters 1982 "Cocaine Blues" — — — "Driving Nails in My Coffin" — — — 1983 "Once in a Blue Moon" 82 — — single only 1988 "Here's to Country Music" — — — Here's to Country Music "Cowgirl Cutie" — — — 1997 "Gotta Sell Them Chickens" (with Junior Brown) — — — Hank Thompson and Friends

Music videos Year Video Director 1997 "Gotta Sell Them Chickens" (w/ Junior Brown) Jim Gerik