La. musician chats about his role in 'I Saw The Light'

You may associate Chris Segura with his fiddling days with Feufollet, or any number of other bands for that matter.

Then again, you may associate Segura as an archivist at the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

In short time, though, you will be able to associate Segura with Hank.

Yes, The Hank. As in Hank Williams.

And that’s because Segura, former local bassist Eric Frey (now living in Nashville), as well as two other New Orleans musicians are in the Williams’ biopic “I Saw the Light” set to premiere Friday.

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“We were the studio musicians for ‘Lovesick Blues’ in the studio whenever Hank cut that,” said Segura. “Also, they backed him up whenever he played that same song at the Opry.”

The fellas were cast as members of Red Foley’s band that backed Williams when he recorded “Lovesick Blues,” and when he performed it at the Grand Ol’ Opry.

The Shreveport Municipal Auditorium is the stand-in for the Grand Ol’ Opry; the studio wasn’t a studio, but played one in the movie.

While the movie role is a first for Segura — “It was a pretty cool experience,” he said — the same cannot be said for British actor, Tom Hiddleston, who plays Hank in the movie and stirred up some controversy by doing so.

“I haven’t really kept up with it too much, but I know it was kind of a controversial thing for a British guy to be playing Hank,” Segura said. “Our interactions with him were really pleasant; he was a really friendly guy.”

Segura recounted a time when there was a break in the filming of the Opry scene and Hiddleston stepped up and regaled cast and crew.

“They had a whole lot of extras in the crowd, and he’s was just playing around with them and entertaining them while we were just sitting around waiting,” said Segura. “It was kind of cool to see that. He wasn’t storming off stage, you know what I mean? He was just hanging out and really trying to entertain people.”

Segura figured it took about a handful or more takes for the two scenes he was in.

“There was a lot of sitting around and waiting,” he said.

In typical Hollywood style, the actual music of the Red Foley band made isn’t what you’ll hear in the movie.

“We were basically miming to recordings that were already made,” said Segura.

Carter Little, who landed Segura and Frey and the others, sent them a couple different versions of “Lovesick Blues” they had to learn. “I tried to get it as close to the studio part that I mimed so it looks pretty realistic.”

To be clear, Segura, Frey and the band actually played while the tune was also playing in the auditorium, but you’ll hear the previously recorded version in the movie.

“We were playing along,” said Segura. “They had the backing track playing so that we were together with it so everything looked real when we were playing.”

Segura is aware the movie isn’t getting favorable reviews, but he has no regrets.

“It was just a cool experience. It wasn’t something that took a ton of time. It was a neat experience, it was something I’d never done,” said Segura. “Whether the movie flops or not, I’m going to get a kick of seeing the four of us playing.”

Thumbs up or down regarding the movie won’t take anything from the real Hank Williams.

“Oh, man — the epitome of songwriting,” Segura said. “Perfect songwriting. I’m not a songwriter, but I can appreciate it. The guy was so prolific in such a short amount of time. He didn’t write a bad tune. It’s ridiculous.”