Rare Demos: First to Last compiles all 24 publisher's demos that the country Music Foundation originally released as The First Recordings and Just Me and My Guitar. These are stark, moving recordings that cut to the core of each songs. Though the master takes are masterpieces in their own right, the demo versions are equally essential for dedicated fans, since they offer new insights to Williams' songwriting, as well as his performance technique.
Hank Williams scattered just 66 songs along the Lost Highway of his very brief life. Therefore, it's natural that even his basic demos might be resurrected and preserved- especially when most of them thrill with a blend of genius ("There's Nothing as Sweet as My Baby") and madness (a spooky version of "A House of Gold").
This compilation of two memorable LPs, Just Me and My Guitar and The First Recordings, sounds brighter than the vinyl incarnations and gives new life to old favorites ("Jambalaya," "Honky Tonk Blues").
Furthermore, this collection offers many of Hank's lesser-known songs, almost all of them haunting ("Lost on the River"), grim ("Neath a Cold Gray Tomb of Stone"), and set to the tempo of tears.
Yes - these 24 rare publisher's demos present some of Williams's earliest work exactly as he wrote it, just Hank and his guitar. Buried away and forgotten for almost 30 years, these priceless recordings have been skillfully restored and preserved using the most advanced restoration technologies available.