"Jambalaya (On the Bayou) was written and released by Hank Williams in 1952, reaching number one on the country charts where it remained for fourteen weeks. It may be the most frequently covered number of all of Williams's great songs. There has always been speculation that piano player Moon Mullican coauthored the music, receiving under-the-table royalties even though his name does not appear on the copyrighted music. Mullican released a version of "Jambalaya" in the same year as Williams, though it has been mostly forgotten (listen to it at the bottom of this post).
Unfortunately, there is no video of Hank Williams performing "Jambalaya.")
Fats Domino
Louisiana Jukebox
Reina de Cid
Doug Kershaw
Los Leones
Brenda Lee
Queen Ida
C.J. Chenier
The Carpenters
Naudo
Emmylou Harris
Moon Mullican (audio only)
Hank Williams, Jr.
The melody wasn't Williams' or Mullican's. It had been used in a variety of recordings for over a decade and the origins are uncertain. Perhaps the most notable pre-Jambalaya use was in Papa Cairo Lamperez's "Big Texas."