**This post features a wonderful James Paslay cachet with a Hank Williams stamp from my collection. The stamp is a part of the Legends of American Music series. Make sure to check out my hub page dedicated to this long-running and important project of the United States Postal Service.
In philately, a cachet is a printed or stamped design (other than a cancellation) on an envelope or postcard. Among them, are the special group of items that are hand decorated with drawings, paintings, or other artistic medium. I only have a few of these special items, but you can see my cachet of Roy Acuff, or the Haitian composer Occide Jeanty.
Hank Williams
By WSM radio –
Hank Williams (1923-1953) is one of the most significant American singers and songwriters of the twentieth century. A foundational figure in Country and Western music Williams was known as the “King of Country Music. He wrote 35 hits that made it into the top ten with eleven reaching number one. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as an influencer.
Hank Williams was born in Mount Olive, Alabama. He received guitar lessons from the Black blues musician Rufus Payne. Williams professional career began in 1937 when he was hired to host a fifteen minute radio program. He put together his first band, the Drifting Cowboys, for that regular gig. Unfortunately, he had to give up the band and the radio show when several of his band’s members were drafted for World War II.
As a solo artist, he was signed to MGM Records and had a hit with the song such “Move It on Over.” Williams was asked to join the radio program Louisiana Hayride and, later, the Grand Ole Opry. Although unable to read or write music, he wrote songs prolifically. Among his biggest hits are “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Hey, Good Lookin’,” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”
Alcoholism and prescription drug abuse took a toll on Williams’ health and he died of a heart attack on New Year’s Day of 1953 at the age of 29. Yet, his tremendous songwriting earns him a spot as one of the greatest of American musicians.
The Stamp
The Hank Williams stamp is a part of the quartet of country musician stamps that were part of the Legends of American Music series. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have mixed feelings about this series. On the one hand, this enormous project was very important in celebrating the importance of American music in all its forms. On the other hand, the selection of artists and genres is uneven and their design is rather unappealing.
The country music set is a good example of this dichotomy. It is actually one of the strongest selections of artists, including The Carter Family, Patsy Cline, and Bob Wills alongside Hank Williams. Yet, the artwork is flat. Cartoon-like, but not in a fun cartoony way. The stamp is important for its topic, but lackluster in design. The design for this stamp, and the entire country music set, was by the prolific stamp designer Richard Waldrep.
The Hank Williams stamp was the flagship stamp of the set and was released on June 9, 1993. The other stamps in the set came out a few months later on September 25th. This was common in the Legends series, for example the Elvis stamp came out before the rest of the rock & roll group and the Louis Armstrong stamp preceded the other jazz stamps.
The Cachet
The wonderful thing about the cachet is that it covers the entire envelope, transforming it into a work of art. The piece is in ink and hand painted watercolors. It depicts a torso shot of Hank Williams looking to the left, dressed in a jacket and tie and wearing his signature white cowboy hat. Additionally, he is surrounded by artifacts important to him. An acoustic guitar over his shoulder, a WSM radio microphone in the back. To his right is a record with his hit “You’re Cheating Heart.” The background color is a pink color.
The cachet is by James Paslay of Paslay Classic cachets. This well known cachet artist produces limit numbers of his designs, this cachet is number 21 out of 150 and like an artistic print carries that number on the lower right above the artist’s signature.
Here is Hank Williams singing one of his great songs!
