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Summary: Hank's broken heart stoked the greatest body of country songs ever written
Comment: Short to-the-point biography matches its subject, who started drinking at 13 and didn't stop until he'd drunk himself to death at 29, after a brief career turning out the greatest country music songs then and since. Such a sad mess.
His parents were divorced early, ending a violent relationship dominated by a large angry Lillie Williams, who stage-mothered the young Hiram ("Harm" in the South Alabama dialect, self-renamed Hank as a teenager) when she wasn't berating him for his drinking or ignoring him or passing him to relatives to raise. His first marriage was to a gold-digging teen mother who married the father of her daughter after she was born and divorced him while he was in Europe fighting WW II so she could marry Hank, She too abused Hank about his drinking and tried to push him in his career.
Their tempestuous relationship ended in a bitter divorce (following a breakup including gunshots and drunken affairs on the part of both), in time for Hank to marry again less than a year before he died, to another woman following the same pattern (teen mom, quicky divorce, violent temper).
Hank died in the back seat of a car driven by a teenage taxi driver headed for Charleston, WV and then Canton, OH to play on New Years Eve and New Year's Day 1953. Country law enforcement and medical personnel performed a percursory autopsy, but the accepted cause of death, by the millions of poor rural fans, was the broken heart that stoked the greatest body of country songs ever written.
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Summary: Mishapen Genius
Comment: I'm not sure many of us could have survived Hank Williams' early days, the single-mom, the street-wise kid educating himself while mom waited for that money he'd bring back home to keep them all from starving.
And then Hank's dad, the typical disappearing act, a man too shamed, too drunk, too stupified by life to pay much attention to Hank, letting him grow up a drunk himself at twelve-years-old, this little Hank practicing his guitar, noting what pleases people and developing the patter to hold an audience.
But think of all those road trips in the Cadillac, to little bars, PTA songfests, broken-down cattle auditions, driving, driving on to the next stop with the whiskey-bottle nearly empty, his sore back throbbing, but some female fan still ready to take him to bed and make him holler.
And some of those women, his mom, his wife, hard-hearted bitches pushing him for more and more, and him yelling, screaming inside, but still coming back home from the road, always the road, his only escape until he was just too sick to go on, and so returned "home" where he'd have to take yet another cure.
Yet the music was everything, wasn't it, the sadness, the horrific yolp of the terrified, the yodel coming from deep inside, enflaming waitresses and machinists and devil-may-care lovers, eager for someone to speak for them.
And Hank Sr. spoke for them, sang for them, drank for them and died for them. Amen.
This is quite a book, isn't it?
by Larry Rochelle, author of TEN MILE CREEK.
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Summary: read escott instead
Comment: really just an unneccesary book. Totally a rehashing of Colin Escott's book. cant believe someone published it. some worthwhile moments, but not really a book id recommend.
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Summary: "Know me,know my music."
Comment: An excellent book on Hank Williams.I followed his career and enjoyed him and his music from the beginning.You often hear people say that they remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard JFKennedy was shot,or when the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11;but I can remember it as clear as a bell when I heard Hank had died.I was in our kitchen listening to the radio;it may well have been a Hank song,but I'm not sure;when the announcer broke in to tell us that Hank Williams had died in the back seat of his Cadillac,on the way to do a show in Canton ,Ohio.
Even if you have come to know Hank's music many years after his passing;you'll find this an excellent book that tells you what Hank and his music was all about.
I also remember in those days the local radio station announced and played The Top Ten Country as well as the Top Ten Popular (Pop) Songs. For a year or more after his death, Hank's songs kept making the list;even though several had not even been released at the time he died.
One should not overlook the fact that Hank's songs were mostly written by himself and were about his life.Today people loosely say that singers are singing from the heart;butif you really want to know what it really means, you will find it with Hank.Having a stable of songwriters,arrangers and so forth produce songs will never have the honesty that we got from Hank.
I have other Biographies about Hank,including Colin Escott's .They are good,have a lot of facts and information;but this book really gets into the heart and soul of Hank.
There are numerous references to Hank's Steel Guitar player,Don Helms,and quite rightly so.Don was with Hank through it all,both the good and the bad,and it is unlikely if anyone knew ,loved and understood Hank better than Don;and that includes Hank's wives and family.
On June 30,2006 ,I heard that Don Helms was going to do a show outside of Hamilton,Ontario.I had forgotten about him,but when they announced that he had been Hank's Steel Guitar player;I just had to go. It was a small crowd,about 150 or so,in a Legion (VFW)hall. Well,was I in for a treat. Don had with him a young singer about 28 or so,about Hank's build dressed in a costume identical to Hank's "Music Suit" ;and accompained by Don and a couple of others sang Hank's songs all afternoon.The young singer,(Hank) Chris Malpow kept us spellbound with his reverent impersonation of Hank, and Don played with the vitality and dedication that he did 50 years ago. Along with them was his wonderful and extremely friendly wife of 60 years,Hazel. They talked one on one,signed autographs,posed for pictures with their admirers,left his famed Guitar on stage for anyone to admire;and seemed as happy to be with us as we were to have them.He said he had hopes to doing more shows.Having been born on Feb 28,1927,makes him 80 today;but I can tell you,he can put on a show as good as the best of them.So,If you get a chance to see him,don't miss it.
He told us one very interesting story,among many.
In the final days,Hank's problems were way beyond control. Hank decided to go back to Alabama. Don wouldn't go.He told Hank when he got things straightened out,he'd be waiting for him in Nashville. There had been a recording session already booked in Nashville.So Hank called Don to do what would be their final session,though nobody knew it at the time. Hank said he had written a new song.Don asked for more details,music,etc.Hank said,he wouldn't have any trouble,He would sing it, and Don could just play along.Well,that's what they did. The song was "Your Cheatin' Heart" and that was the only time he and Hank ever sang it ogether. A careful listening will show you that Don tried his best to follow Hank. And,what a song it was.
As fans of Hank,we are very fortunate that people have made the effort to bring these biographies to us. Another person mentioned in the book is Bill Mcewan.For several years he and Colin Escott collaborated on a 3-Hour radio show every New Year's Day on Hank Williams. They were always telling wonderful stories and turning up recordings that had never been releaded.They often played parts of the "Health and Happiness"shows.
On page 170 it is stated that ;
"Hank recorded a total of sixty-six songs,thirty-seven of them making the "Billboard"charts,and the most important number is that he had written fifty of them himself."
That number seems low to me. One Website lists 166 Songs between 1946 and 1952. Does anyone know what the correct number and the names are?
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Summary: Engaging read
Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed this short but absorbing biography of the country legend. Having been a fan all his life, Hemphill writes with great empathy and understanding, making the south and the country culture of the 1940s really come alive. So one learns a lot about the history of the southern states, the development of the music and the singers of the time. He analyses the lyrics and makes them more comprehensible in the light of Williams' personal life and background.
It's interesting to learn about the towns, the venues, truckstops and radio stations, and the history of the Grand Ole Opry, the record companies and the major figures of early country music. In those days, live performances were more lucrative than record sales so Hank Williams worked extraordinarily hard on constant gruelling tours. That was before the days of luxury tour buses. Hemphill succeeds in capturing the essence of Williams' poetic genius in his discussions of the famous songs, enthusing the reader to go back to the music and listen with a new ear.
As a music lover, I found the author's discussion of the different popular music genres of the late 1940s of particular interest, and how Hank Williams' songs were covered by artists as varied as Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Perry Como and Dinah Washington. Fifty years after his death, his music had been interpreted by an impressive array of artists from almost every possible genre, like James Brown, The Bee Gees, Nat King Cole, Isaac Hayes, Elvis and even The Residents: Stars & Hank Forever. In the introduction to her version of Pale Blue Eyes, Patti Smith pays tribute to Hank in a brief narration about his death in the back of a car on the way to a gig.
The writing style is a pleasure, down to earth, often witty even when he narrates episodes from the dark side with lots of empathy. Lovesick Blues is one of the most enjoyable biographies of a musician that I have read. But the book would have benefited from a discography and stuff like Billboard country and pop chart positions, as well as an index. Five stars for reading pleasure, but one deducted for the absence of the aforementioned.
Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway
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