By: David Schultz

A recent decision by a Nashville, Tennessee appellate court upheld a decision awarding Hank Williams, Jr. and his half-sister Jett, the rights to exploit 52 radio programs featuring their father, legendary county singer Hank Williams. The programs, recorded for WSM Radio's Mother's Best Flour program between 1951 and 1952, constitute the largest known body of unreleased Hank Williams material. Although Williams and his band, the Drifting Cowboys, often played live, they recorded numerous performances for broadcast on the evenings when they were on tour or otherwise unavailable. The decision likely ends the eight year dispute between Williams' heirs, Polygram Records and Legacy Entertainment over the ownership of the performances.

The legal wrangling began when Legacy Entertainment sought to release remixed versions of the Mother's Best Flour performances. The last link in a convoluted chain of possession, Legacy asserted rights to the performances as owners of the acetate tapes on which they were recorded. Once the acetate recordings were broadcast, WSM stored them with no plans of future broadcast or release. In 1960, WSM discarded the tapes during their move from their downtown Nashville offices, leaving them in the trash. Les Leverett, a WSM photographer noticed the tapes and, with WSM's blessing, rescued them from oblivion. After sitting on Leverett's shelf for 22 years, he contracted with Hillous Butrum, a former member of the Drifting Cowboys, to enhance and remix the recordings with the intent of releasing them on CD. Butrum removed the skips and hisses, added additional background music and sold the recordings to Legacy. At the time of the September 12, 1997 sale, securing permission from William's estate appeared to be the only roadblock to releasing the Mother's Best Flour performances

Polygram, the distributor of The Complete Hank Williams, a 10 CD Grammy winning box set, challenged Legacy's ownership of the recordings, claiming they owned them as the successor in interest of MGM Records. In 1947, Williams entered into a personal services agreement with MGM, giving MGM exclusive rights to his phonographic recordings. Claiming Williams was still under contract to MGM at the time the Mother's Best Flour performances, Polygram claimed rights to the performances.

Williams' estate, represented by his son Hank Williams, Jr. and Jett Willams, claimed neither Legacy nor Polygram owned the rights to distribute the performances but rather that those rights remained with Williams' estate. Getting an affirmative answer to a question more serious than "are you ready for some football?" the Chancery Court of Tennessee as well as the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Nashville agreed with Williams' heirs.

Justice Frank Clement, Jr. summarized Legacy's claims with a wry sense of humor. "If a song were written about this matter favorable to Legacy's claim, it might be entitled, 'I Found a Gold Mine in the Radio Station Trash,'" wrote Clement. However, the Court retitled Legacy's claim, "Your Bucket Has a Hole In It." The Court ruled that WSM Radio only had the right to broadcast Williams' performances on the Mother's Best Flour show. While Legacy may have acquired rights to the actual acetate tapes, they did not acquire ownership of the performances contained on them as WGM Radio did not possess that right. Giving Legacy no more rights than WGM Radio, the Court dismissed their claims to the ownership of the performances.

Without creating witty song titles to describe Polygram's claims, the Court likewise dismissed them. Williams' contract with MGM gave the studio the rights to "recordings made for the purpose of making phonograph records." The Mother's Best Flour performances were made for the purpose of radio broadcast, not phonographic reproduction, and the Court ruled that they weren't covered by the agreement. With Polygram and Legacy's claims dismissed by the Court, the rights to distribute and exploit the Mother's Best Flour performances belong to Williams' heirs.

Although Polygram and Legacy have the right to appeal the decision to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the appellate court decision may pave the way for newly released music from a country legend that died in 1953 giving country music fans good cause to be excited. "Not only because Williams was a great writer and performer, but because the radio shows provide a unique insight into the man," said John Rumble, senior historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame. "Recordings of Hank's radio shows certainly put you in touch with Hank Williams the man, Hank Williams the performer and Hank Williams the radio artist," explained Rumble. "You can look and feel how engaging he is because you can hear him talk."