Hank Williams and The Original Drifting Cowboys (CD1, Tk3)
Love Sick Blues
country blues (1949)
Hank Williams [Rex Griffin], vocal; Bob McNett, guitar; Hillous Butram, bass guitar; Don Helms, steel guitar; Jerry Rivers, fiddle.

This song was recorded at the last moment, and only Hank really beleived in the song. Those around him at the time thought this was a fluff song that could only hurt his career. Hank had some successes over the years, but his destructive lifestyle constantly interrupted his career. This song was his greatest success, despite his handlers suppositions. It topped the country charts for months. The songs success led to his remarkable appearance at the Grand Ole Opry the same year. (He received six encores.) This performance is a definition of country music. The yodeling, clear words from a strong voice, acoustic guitar and song structure. 

The interesting part of this performance is the phrasing. The music is built around the wordsso much so that the phrasing is irregular to fit the words. The result is that everything feels natural, but if you count beats and measures, you will find variations from the standard four-measure phrases with four beats in each measure. This is interesting because country is often blamed for being so simplistic; maybe it just sounds simple.