The Albums of Hank Locklin
The Albums of Hank Locklin
by Michael Erlewine
Hank Locklin (Lawrence Hankins
Locklin), one of country music's great
tenors, was born February 15, 1918 in
the small town of McLellan located in
the lumbering district of the Florida
Panhandle. The youngest son of four
children, he went to a one-room
schoolhouse and was musical even as a
young child. Hank was injured at the
age of eight in an accident and the long
recovery process was the time when he
first begin to learn music. Although
interested in the guitar early on, it was
not until his mid-teens that he really
began to master that instrument. Hank
was active in music in high school
(which he never finished.), and at
eighteen won first prize in a talent show.
He went on to do spots on the local
radio station as he became more and
more interested in entertaining. By the
mid-1940s he was playing on the radio
and doing in-person performances in
Florida and nearby states. For the next
ten years of so, Locklin worked many
jobs (musical and otherwise), played
with a variety of groups, and, through a
variety of trials, gradually worked his
way up the country music ladder to
recogition. A good account of these
years can be found in the Bear Family
box liner notes as written by Otto
Kissinger.
His career did not really take off until he
joined the RCA Victor label in the Spring
of 1955. Locklin's work with RCA has
the added advantage that almost all of it
was produced by Chet Atkins, often with
Atkins himself on rhythm or lead guitar
and with the added trills and fill-ins of
Floyd Kramer on piano. The extreme
simplicity of his early works makes this
combination of his clear voice and these
particular sidemen very effective. Hank's
big popular hits "Send me the Pillow that
you Dream On" (written by Locklin),
"Geisha Girl," and "Please Help Me I'm
Falling" everyone knows, but real
Locklin fans are in love with his very
simple heartfelt tunes like "Who Am I to
Cast the First Stone," "A Good Woman's
Love," "Seven or Eleven," "I'm Tired of
Bummin' Around," "Golden Wristwatch,"
"Sitting Alone at a Table for Two," and
many others. These early songs are
characterized by Locklin's crystal clear
tenor, the ultra-simplicity of the songs
themselves, and their straight-to-the
heart emotional plea. Kitty Wells has
this same kind of gift. The result is a
group of incredible songs that, first
released as singles, later became
available on Camden, RCA's budget
label. Now, after many years of neglect,
many of these songs are now available
on the Bear family Box “Hank Locklin,
Please Help Me I'm Falling” Locklin
stayed with the RCA label until the mid
1960s.
Locklin helped pioneer the idea of
concept albums; his albums; “Foreign
Love” and “Irish Songs, Country Style”
are examples. He also recorded an
album tribute to Roy Acuff, “A Tribute to
Roy Accuff, King of Country Music”. His
Irish songs are pretty near definitive. As
time goes by, the vocal chorus begins to
creep into the Locklin albums a little
more than purists might like, but his
crystal clear tenor never deserts him.
Hank hit the top-ten charts again in the
1968 with "The Country Hall of Fame."
In the 1970s he toured overseas often,
was very popular in Ireland and Great
Britian, and made at least one tour with
Chet Atkins to the far East (Japan). After
leaving RCA, he went on to record for a
 The Albums of Hank Locklin

number of labels including MGM and “This Song Is Just For You” (Camden
Plantation. He is retired now and lived in CAL 765), “Happy Journey” (RCA LSP
Brewton, Alabama, only some 20 miles 2464), “A Tribute to Roy Acuff King of
from his birth place. He died March 8, Country Music” (RCA LSP 2597), “The
2009 at his home. Ways of Life” (RCA LSP 2680), and
“Irish Songs, Country Style” (RCA LSP
“Hank Locklin, Please Help Me I'm
2801). Unless RCA decides to release
Falling”, Bear Family box BCD 15730
all the early Camden material, this fine
This is a four-disc retrospective of box set from Bear Family is what we
Locklin's years with RCA Victor from have for now.
1955 through the mid 1960s. Of course
Hank's big popular hits "Send me the
Pillow that you Dream On" (written by Michael@Erlewine.net
Locklin), "Geisha Girl," and "Please Help
Me I'm Falling" are there. While a great
many important early Locklin songs are
missing from this collection ("I'm tired of
Bummin' Around," "Sitting Alone at a
Table for Two," and "Golden
Wristwatch"), many fine songs are
included that have been unavailable for
many years. Songs like "Who Am I to
Cast the First Stone," "A Good Woman's
Love," "Seven or Eleven." It is this
precious early material that has been
unavailable, most produced by Chet
Atkins, often with Atkins on guitar and
almost all with the excellent piano
accompanment of Floyd Cramer. Also
included are a number of Locklin's
concept albums: “Foreign Love” , “Irish
songs, Country Style”, plus his album
tribute to Roy Acuff, “A Tribute to Roy
Acuff, King of Country Music”.
Of course his early material on Four
Star Records (pre RCA) and his later
material on MGM and Plantation are not
here.
Most of these songs in this box set are
taken from albums that appeared on
Camden and RCA. They are “My Kind of
Country Blues” (Camden CAL 912),
“Hank Locklan” (Camden CAL 905),
“Please Help Me I'm Falling” (RCA LPM
2291), “Foreign Love” (RCA LPM 1673),