It is not every day that a song recorded nearly seven decades ago suddenly reappears on modern music charts. Yet that is exactly what has happened with “Lovesick Blues”, the Hank Williams classic that first made waves in 1949. In 2018, the track unexpectedly climbed to number four on Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart, largely thanks to an 11-year-old boy who yodeled it in the aisles of a Walmart store.
The boy in question is Mason Ramsey, a child from Golconda, Illinois, who grew up singing country music from a very young age. When a video of him belting out “Lovesick Blues” in his local Walmart surfaced online, it quickly spread across social media platforms. Ramsey’s pitch-perfect delivery, cowboy attire, and natural charm earned him the nickname the “Yodeling Walmart Kid.” Within days, he had gained more than 180,000 Twitter followers, inspired countless memes and remixes, and even received an invitation to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
What might have been a fleeting viral moment for Ramsey turned into an unexpected revival for Hank Williams. Streaming numbers for Williams’ original version of “Lovesick Blues” soared. A live radio performance from his 1950 collection The Garden Spot Programs saw a staggering 2,452 percent increase in Spotify streams between late March and early April of 2018. Nearly seventy years after its release, the song was once again reaching a vast new audience, many of whom had never listened to Hank Williams before.
The Original Legacy of “Lovesick Blues”
Although Hank Williams is most closely associated with “Lovesick Blues”, he did not actually write the song. It was originally composed by Tin Pan Alley songwriters Cliff Friend and Irving Mills, and first appeared in the 1922 musical Oh Ernest. Vaudeville performer Elsie Clark recorded the earliest commercial version that same year. Several artists revisited the song over the following decades, but it was Williams who transformed it into a phenomenon.
Williams’ rendition was released in 1949 and instantly became a career-defining hit. When he debuted it at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the reaction was overwhelming. An audience of 3,000 demanded six encores, and one observer noted that the show had never been stopped so abruptly in its 31-year history. The single went on to spend 16 consecutive weeks at Number One on the Billboard chart and sold more than 11 million copies, making it the best-selling record of that year. For the then 26-year-old Williams, it was the song that elevated him from a promising young singer to a bona fide country music star.
Sadly, his triumph was short-lived. Williams battled alcoholism and health issues, and he died in 1953 at the age of just 29. Despite his brief career, he left behind a catalogue of songs that became the foundation of modern country music. “Lovesick Blues” remained one of his most enduring and best-loved recordings.
A Timeless Song Reborn
The resurgence of “Lovesick Blues” in 2018 shows just how timeless great music can be. Younger listeners, many discovering the track for the first time through Mason Ramsey’s viral performance, were drawn not only to the novelty of a child yodeling in a store but also to the authentic power of Williams’ original. The song’s mix of heartbreak, showmanship, and unique vocal style has allowed it to transcend generations.
While Mason Ramsey’s video may have been the spark, it is Hank Williams’ artistry that has kept the flame burning. Nearly seventy years after his Opry debut, the song returned to global attention, proving that true classics never fade.