BFD / Audium Nashville Acquires Rights To Release Louisiana Hayride Series

Bob Frank Distribution (BFD) / Audium Nashville has acquired the rights to release a series of historic live recordings by some of the most legendary artists in country music from the iconic Louisiana Hayride.

Five titles—featuring Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Jim Reeves—all part of the Louisiana Hayride Icon Series, are set to release on Black Friday, Nov. 24. Physical releases will come at a to-be-determined date in 2024.

“We are thrilled to partner with this iconic brand and catalog,” says BFE Founder/CEO Bob Frank. “We look forward to bringing out many releases physically and digitally from the legends of country music.”

75 years ago, as television was in its infancy, a weekly country music radio program out of Shreveport, Louisiana set out to replicate the success of other “barn dance” radio shows of the era, such as the Grand Ole Opry, the Old Dominion Barn Dance, the Wheeling Jamboree, the Midwestern Hayride and the Ozark Mountain Jubilee.

The Louisiana Hayride premiered on April 3, 1948, and got off to a rocky start as the program director and musical talent worked to figure out the mechanics of the ambitious radio and stage show.

All that changed the first week of August that year when a lanky troubadour hit town from Alabama and the world was introduced to Hank Williams, Sr. From the exposure parent station KWKH could offer with its coverage area of 38 states and a showcase on Armed Forces Radio heard from Japan to Ireland, Williams became the first of dozens to perform on the Hayride stage on the way to superstardom.

The historic recordings of Louisiana Hayride are owned by Global Media Archives.