Season 1, Episode 8

Aired 8/10/69

Waylon Jennings: By the late 1970s, Waylon's voice had settled into a pretty uniform baritone--not very dynamic, but totally recognizable. So this performance of "Delia's Gone" is a revelation to me. This version is set against the brooding minor chords of "House of the Rising Sun," and employing some haunting touches of sitar, all of which enhance the song's Appalachian murder ballad lyrics. As the song builds, his voice rises in pitch until it soars dramatically in a range I've never heard from Waylon. The result is absolutely chilling.

Season 1, Episode 5

Aired 7/13/69

Jerry Lee Lewis: After his rock 'n roll career disgracefully ended in disgrace, The Killer took another path, and by the end of the '60s was in the middle of an all-too-brief but brilliant country phase. Appearing subdued and professional on Hee Haw, he performed an inventive, almost ragtime rendition of "Walking the Floor," along with a straight version of his classic "Another Place, Another Time." No visual pyrotechnics, no jumping up and down,

no knocking things over, but plenty of trademark verbal swoops and even a slightly sinister glance or two at the camera.

Those Two Crazy Guys: The first time you see Jimmy Riddle and Jackie Phelps on Hee Haw doing their "Eefin' & Hambone" routine (also known variously as "Eef & Eff" and "What the Eff?!"), you're thinking, "Man, that is the weirdest thing I've seen in a very long time." By the third or fourth time, you're thinking, "Man, that is pure unadulterated genius." Watching Riddle wheeze and heeze and hand-fart maniacally while Phelps hambones his thigh with a slightly vacant look and his other hand placed firmly on his partner's back is a little like seeing the movie Freaks for the first time. Andy Kaufman dreamed of coming up with something this surreal. It defies explanation how I can't remember seeing these guys on the show when I was young, because the experience surely would've left a psychic scar a mile wide. Riddle and Phelps were accomplished musicians who played with the likes of Bill Monroe, but the unsuspecting Hee Haw viewer could be forgiven for thinking they were escapees from Central State.

Just how groovy were the Hager Twins? Check this out:

Saaay....