Western swing -- which had been losing popularity ever since V-J Day -- was dead. In September 1964, almost 18 years to the day that Globe's "Swing Wide Your Gate of Love" backed with "Whoa Sailor" was released, Thompson left Capitol, tired of being on Brit-rock's back burner.
From there it was mainly yeoman's work. Although Thompson still had the old moxie -- "On Tap, in the Can, or in the Bottle" went to number seven in 1968, and "Smoky the Bar" went to number three in 1969 -- he was straying farther and farther from his Western-swing roots, diluting his sound with the commercial influences whose seeds he had helped plant many years and miles before.
Still, he continued to have hits into the '80s; his last chart appearance was in 1983, when "Once in a Blue Moon" hit number 82 on the Billboard country chart and stayed there for five weeks. His dilution of his sound wasn't as much a sellout as a pragmatic business decision. No doubt late at night, bemused, he still remembered his father, who passed away in 1978, always letting him know that there was always a place for him at the garage, "just in case things got bad."
It never got that bad for Hank Thompson, and with his new duets CD, things will probably get a whole lot better. Thompson and Mike Curb of Curb Records tried three times to get the project off the ground, but nothing seemed to work out until last September, when Bill Millet -- a Dallas music impresario who had been a bluegrass musician in his youth -- came on board as producer. Millet had a wealth of contacts in the hot young country arena, and when he approached pal Vince Gill about guesting on the project, Gill enthusiastically said yes and asked for "A Six Pack to Go" -- a song loved by both his dad and late brother.
With Gill on board, other acts quickly lined up: Brooks and Dunn, Lyle Lovett, Joe Diffie, Marty Stuart and a host of others. The result is a masterful synthesis by Thompson and Millet that features old classics and brand-new material, mixing Hank's swing with the thump and twang of the other acts. Millet tried as much as possible to recreate the great sound of Thompson's Capitol recordings, using old tube technology and cutting the tracks as "live" as possible.
More impressive than the sound is the pure force of Thompson's character. Often the featured artists on star-studded endeavors such as this end up buried, sidemen on their own project, but Thompson stands his ground masterfully: "Hooked on Honky-Tonk," a new song, allows Brooks and Dunn their trademark boot-scootin' sound, but there's no doubt as to who wins the battle of alternating verses. In fact, only Junior Brown and Joe Diffie come close to giving Thompson a run for his money.
Everyone who assisted with the project praises Thompson, who has never gone for much in the way of false modesty, but always credits the people behind his success. "Hank's just a nice, well-educated man," Bobby Garrett, who was brought in for his steel guitar expertise, says. "He has the best way of putting words together and saying a lot with a little. He's not temperamental -- he loves what he's doing, and he loves the people who love the music. I look back on my time with him as the highlight of my career."
"He's reached the point where he's universal," David Ball, who joins with Thompson to do a swinging, sophisticated version of Walter Hyatt's "Get the Hell Out of Dodge," explains. "This album has significance, because with it he's bringing all his music to a lot of younger people who may have missed it."
"Hank's not retro," producer Millet says. "Retro means you're trying to get back to something. Hank is that thing.
