The downtown space that once housed Herzog Studios — the facilities used to record legendary songs by the likes of Flatt and Scruggs, The Delmore Brothers and, most famously, Hank Williams (along with many others) — is going into flashback mode at the end of this month, when, for the first time in many decades, it will once again be used as a recording studio.—-
On Aug. 30, the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation — which is headquartered in that famous second-floor space at 811 Race St. (CityBeat’s offices are just above it) — will host a live recording event to celebrate the 61st anniversary of what turned out to be some significant recording sessions that launched Hank Williams into the popular music stratosphere. A live recording event featuring local Country music faves the Dallas Moore Band will honor the Aug. 30, 1949, sessions, when Hank recorded “I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Livin’, ” “A House Without Love,” “My Bucket’s Got a Whole in It” and one of Hank’s signature songs, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” (On Dec. 22, 1948, Hank did his first Herzog sessions, which yielded the song that first pushed Williams into America’s consciousness, “Lovesick Blues.”)
The Dallas Moore Band will be joined by Jody Payne, longtime Willie Nelson guitarist and former Cincinnati resident, to record the song “Hank to Thank” — a tribute written by fellow local Country artist Danny Frazier — and other original songs, ending with a handful of Hank Williams covers. The sessions (which will also be filmed) will be released on CD and DVD by Lawrenceburg-based SOL Records, home to Dallas Moore and area bands Pure Grain, Ridge Runner, Peppertown and Fifth on the Floor.
For those wanting to witness the event, 100 tickets will be available to the public. Order yours here, while they last. Proceeds go to the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation, which has been doing an amazing job the past few years spotlighting Cincinnati’s vital role in popular music history (they helped have an historical marker placed at the old King Records facilities in Evanston as well as the one in front of the old Herzog space).
For more on the Herzog facility's legacy, check out this story Rick Bird wrote for CityBeat when the historical marker was installed last year.
