Name	Hank Williams III
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Shelton Hank Williams III
Born	December 12, 1972Nashville, Tennessee|
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass, drums Keyboards
Genre	Alt-country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, drummer
Years active	1991–present
Label	Curb Records, Sanctuary Records, Bruc Records, Sidewalk Records
Associated acts	AssjackArson AnthemSuperjoint RitualWhipping PostBedwetterSalidaBuzzKill
Url	Official Website
Notable instruments	"Last Badass Gibson ES-175 Guild Acoustics and Nightbird Solidbody Fryette Pitbull Crate BV300H Randall RG100

Shelton Hank Williams III, known as Hank 3 (born December 12, 1972), is a musician in Americana, Neotraditional Country, alt.country, cowpunk, Southern rock, hellbilly, psychobilly, sludge metal, hardcore genres. The grandson of country music legend Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams Jr., he is one of the most prominent musicians to play neotraditional country in a country music market dominated by pop country. In addition to his honky tonk recordings, Williams' style alternates between punk and metal. He is the principal member of the punk metal band Assjack, the drummer for the Southern hardcore punk band Arson Anthem, and was the bassist for Pantera singer Phil Anselmo's band Superjoint Ritual.

In his career, he has released seven studio albums, including five for Curb Records.

Career

Hank Williams III spent much of his early career playing drums in punk rock bands with his good friend Fart Lips during the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s.

Three years after a one night stand in 1995, Hank Williams III was served papers on stage while opening up for the underground band Buzzov•en. The judge told Williams that playing music was no real job and to come up with $60,000 in overdue child support. To avoid being branded as a deadbeat dad, Williams signed a contract with Nashville, Tennessee, music industry giant Curb Records to pay off the debt. was issued shortly thereafter, which spliced together recordings to make it seem that three generations of Williams men were singing alongside one another. In the late 1980s, upon first meeting Hank Williams III, Minnie Pearl, a friend of the late Hank Williams Sr., reportedly said "Lord, honey, you're a ghost," as she was astonished by his striking resemblance to his grandfather.

Hank Williams III first solo album, Risin' Outlaw, was released in September 1999 to respectable sales and strong reviews. While his name (and his uncanny vocal and physical resemblances to his grandfather) could have guaranteed Williams a thriving country audience, he had little patience for the often predictable Nashville sound, nor for even the minimal constraints on behavior his promoters required. His opinions on this subject are well summed up in his songs "Trashville" and "Dick in Dixie."

Williams' live shows typically follow a Jekyll and Hyde format: a country music set featuring fiddle player Adam McOwen and slide guitar player Andy Gibson, followed by a hellbilly set, and then an Assjack set. He plays both the country and the psychobilly with his "Damn Band." Assjack produces a very different sound than either, mixing heavy doses of metalcore, psychobilly, and hardcore punk.

The lineup for Assjack includes the addition of supplemental vocalist Gary Lindsey, bassist Zach Shedd switching from upright to electric bass, and the departure of his fiddle and slide guitar players. McOwen's predecessor was fellow-fiddle-player Michael "Fiddleboy" McCanless, who would play all three sets, adding traditional violin for the country set of the concert before plugging his instrument into an amplifier and distortion unit for later sets. Another former band member was guitarist Duane Denison, previously with The Jesus Lizard, who left The Damn Band and Assjack in January 2001 and later that year formed Tomahawk.

Williams has had significant contractual conflicts with Curb Records. He expressed dissatisfaction with his debut, and reportedly the label was unwilling to release his appropriately named This Ain't Country LP, nor to allow him to issue it on another record label. In response, Williams began making t-shirts stating "Fuck Curb." Also during this era, Williams played bass guitar in heavy metal band Superjoint Ritual, a now-defunct band led by former Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo'

In late 2004, Thrown Out of the Bar was slated for release, but Curb opted not to issue it. Williams and label executive Mike Curb would be in and out of court for the next year before a judge ruled in favor of Williams in the spring of 2005, demanding that Curb release the album. Shortly thereafter Williams and Curb came to terms, and Williams dropped his "Fuck Curb" campaign. Bar was reworked into Straight to Hell, released on Curb’s rock imprint, Bruc. Battles with Wal-Mart delayed the appearance of this album, which was released on February 28, 2006 as a two-disc set in two formats: a censored version (for Wal-Mart), and an uncensored version that was the first major-label country album ever to bear a parental advisory warning. One of the songs, "Pills I Took", was written by a little-known Wisconsin group called Those Poor Bastards, who originally released the song on their 2004 CD Country Bullshit.

Hank III has recently played drums for Arson Anthem, formed with Phil Anselmo and Mike Williams of the sludge band Eyehategod.

Also, Hank III released his long awaited punk-metal album AssJack on August 4, 2009.

His next album, Rebel Within, was released in May 2010. Rebel Within was the last album by Williams to be released on Curb Records. It charted at number 20 in Billboard magazine. A forthcoming album by Hank III is due for release in 2011; he will self-release the album.

References

External links

Official Website

Hank III Interview on AmericanaRoots.com

Hank III interviews, videos & message board on Hankville.com

Category:Living people Category:1972 births Category:American alternative country singers Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singers Category:American heavy metal bass guitarists Category:American heavy metal singers Category:American punk rock bass guitarists Category:American punk rock drummers Category:American punk rock guitarists Category:American punk rock singers Category:Cowpunk Category:Curb Records artists Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee

Name	Hank Williams
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Hiram King Williams
Alias	Hank WilliamsHank Williams IHank Williams, Sr.Luke the DrifterHank Senior
Born	September 17, 1923Mount Olive, Alabama
Died	January 01, 1953Oak Hill, West Virginia
Origin	Montgomery, Alabama, US
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Country, western, gospel, blues, honky tonk, folk
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, musician
Years active	1937–1953
Label	Sterling, MGM
Associated acts	Drifting Cowboys
Url	www.hankwilliams.com

Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as among one of the greatest country music stars of all time. He charted eleven number one songs between 1948 and 1953, though unable to read or write music to any significant degree. His hits included "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Hey Good Lookin'" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".

Williams died at age 29; his death is widely believed to have resulted from a mixture of alcohol and drugs. His son Hank Williams, Jr., daughter Jett Williams, and grandchildren Hank Williams III, Holly Williams, and Hilary Williams are also professional singers.

His songs have been recorded by hundreds of other artists, many of whom have also had hits with the tunes, in a range of pop, gospel, blues and rock styles. Williams has been covered by performers including Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Cake, Kenny Rankin, Beck Hansen, Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, The Residents, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong and Tom Waits.

Biography

Early life

Williams was born inside a log cabin in Mount Olive, Alabama, to Elonzo Huble "Lon" Williams, who was of English ancestry, and Jessie Lillybelle "Lillie" Skipper. He was named after Hiram I of Tyre (one of the three founders of the Masons, according to Masonic legend), but his name was misspelled as "Hiriam" on his birth certificate. Despite Acuff's advice, Williams continued to show up for his radio show intoxicated, so in August 1942, WSFA fired him due to "habitual drunkenness."

Later career

Williams had 11 number one hits in his career—"Lovesick Blues", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me", "Moanin' the Blues", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive", "Kaw-Liga", "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Take These Chains from My Heart" — as well as many other top ten hits.

1940s

In 1943, Williams met and married Audrey Sheppard, who became his manager as his career was rising (she also accompanied him on duets in some of his live concerts); and Williams became a local celebrity. In 1946, Williams recorded two singles for Sterling Records — "Never Again" (1946) and "Honky Tonkin'" (1947) — both of which were successful. Williams soon signed with MGM Records, and released "Move It On Over", a massive country hit. In August 1948, Williams joined Louisiana Hayride, broadcast from Shreveport, Louisiana, propelling him into living rooms all over the southeast. After a few more moderate hits, Williams released his version of Emmet Miller's composition, made popular by Rex Griffin, a tune called "Lovesick Blues" in 1949, which became a huge country hit and crossed over to mainstream audiences. That year, Williams sang the song at the Grand Ole Opry, where he became the first performer to receive six encores. In addition, Hank brought together Bob McNett (guitar), Hillous Butrum (bass), Jerry Rivers (fiddle) and Don Helms (steel guitar) to form the most famous version of the Drifting Cowboys; also that year, Audrey Williams gave birth to Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams, Jr.). 1949 also saw Williams release seven hit songs after "Lovesick Blues", including "Wedding Bells", "Mind Your Own Business", "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)" and "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It".

"Luke the Drifter"

In 1950, Williams began recording as Luke the Drifter, an appellation given to him for use in identifying his religion-themed recordings, many of which are recitations rather than singing. Fearful that disc jockeys and jukebox operators would become hesitant to accept these non-traditional Williams recordings, thereby hurting the marketability of Williams's name, the name Luke the Drifter was employed to cloak the identity of the artist. Around this time, Williams released more hit songs, such as "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy", "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me", "Why Should We Try Any More?", "Nobody's Lonesome for Me", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me?", "Moanin' the Blues" and "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Livin'". In 1951, "Dear John" became a hit but the B-side, "Cold, Cold Heart", has endured as one of his most famous songs, aided by the No. 1 pop version by Tony Bennett in 1951 being the first of many recordings of Williams's songs in a non-country genre. ("Cold, Cold Heart" has subsequently been covered by George Jones, David Allan Coe, Guy Mitchell, Casino Steel, Teresa Brewer, Dinah Washington, Lucinda Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cowboy Junkies, Frankie Laine, Jo Stafford, and Norah Jones, among others). That same year, Williams released other hits, including "Crazy Heart".

Personal life

On December 15, 1944, Williams married Sheppard. It was her second marriage and his first. Their son, Randall Hank Williams, who would achieve fame in his own right as Hank Williams, Jr., was born on May 26, 1949.

Williams' marriage, always turbulent, was rapidly disintegrating, and he developed a serious problem with alcohol, morphine and other painkillers prescribed for him in an effort to ease his severe back pain caused by his spina bifida. Williams and his wife were divorced on May 29, 1952.

In June 1952 after his divorce, Williams moved in with his mother, even as he released numerous hit songs, such as "Half as Much", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "Settin' the Woods on Fire", "You Win Again" and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive". Williams' drug problems continued to spiral out of control as he moved to Nashville and officially divorced his wife. A relationship with Bobbie Jett during this period resulted in a daughter, Jett, who would be born just after his death.

On August 11, 1952, Williams was fired from the Grand Ole Opry. Told not to return until he was sober, he instead rejoined Louisiana Hayride. Soon after, the Drifting Cowboys decided to part ways with Williams. Their departure was due to Williams drinking more than a show would pay.

On October 18, 1952, Williams married Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar (born 1933) in Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. It was a second marriage for both (both having been divorced with children). The next day two public ceremonies were also held at the New Orleans Civic Auditorium where 14,000 seats were sold for each ceremony. It has been written that Williams wanted the two public ceremonies in an attempt to spite Audrey who wanted him back and threatened that he would never see his son again. After Williams' death, a judge ruled the wedding was not legal because Billie Jean’s divorce did not become final until eleven days after she married Williams. Hank's first wife, Audrey, and his mother, Lillian, were the driving force behind having the marriage declared invalid and pursued the matter for years. Little mention was made that Williams also married Audrey before her divorce was final. He married her on the tenth day of a required 60-day reconciliation period. On October 22, 1975 a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia, finally ruled Billie Jean's marriage was valid and half of Williams' future royalties belonged to her. After Willams' death, Billie Jean married Johnny Horton, also an American country music singer, in 1953. She was again widowed in 1960 when Horton was killed in a car crash.

Death

where Williams is interred]] On January 1, 1953, Williams was scheduled to perform at a New Year's Day concert in Canton, Ohio, but he was unable to fly because of inclement weather. He hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to the concerts he was to perform during the few final days of 1952 and early 1953. Upon leaving the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, Williams apparently had injected himself with some pain-killers which included a morphine/Vitamin B-12 combination. Also found in the Cadillac convertible were some empty beer cans and the handwritten lyrics to a song yet to be recorded. According to some, Williams was carried semi-conscious to his automobile by Carr and a hotel employee, who wondered about Williams' condition, and later believed he might have been dead at that point.

In a slightly different version, Carr suspected Williams was moribund at some earlier point, but realized the great singer was dead several miles before entering the town of Oak Hill, West Virginia where he, almost in a panic, pulled up to the gas station to seek help.

Upon closer examination, it was discovered that Williams was dead. He was 29. The official cause of death was heart failure, but there is still some mystery about the circumstances. Controversy has since surrounded Williams' death, with some claiming that Williams was dead before leaving Knoxville. Other sources, speculating from the forensic evidence, claim that Williams died in his sleep while the Cadillac was being driven through Kentucky about an hour before his body was discovered in the back seat. Oak Hill is still widely known as the little town where Hank Williams died. There is a monument dedicated to his memory across the street from the little gas station where Carr anxiously sought help for Williams. The people of Oak Hill were apparently concerned with Carr and his near-panicky condition, as they calmed him and welcomed him into their homes. The Cadillac in which Hank died is now preserved at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

Williams' final single released during his lifetime was coincidentally titled "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive". Five days after his death, his daughter by Bobbie Jett (Jett Williams) was born. His widow, Billie Jean Jones, married country singer Johnny Horton in September 1953. "Your Cheatin' Heart" was written and recorded in 1952 but released in 1953, after Williams' death. The song was number one on the country charts for six weeks. The story goes that Williams was prompted to write the song when thinking about his first wife, Audrey Williams, while driving around with his second, Billie Jean Williams; she is supposed to have written down the lyrics for him in the passenger seat. Williams collaborated with Nashville songwriter Fred Rose to produce the song's final draft before recording it during his last ever recording session, on September 23, 1952. The song provided the title of a 1964 biopic about Williams, which starred George Hamilton.

Legacy and influence

Williams' son Hank Williams, Jr., daughter Jett Williams, grandson Hank Williams III, and granddaughters Hilary Williams and Holly Williams are also country musicians.

Williams ranked number two in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind Johnny Cash. His son, Hank Jr., ranked number 20 on the same list.

Williams' remains are interred at the Oakwood Annex in Montgomery, Alabama. His funeral was said to have been far larger than any ever held for a citizen of Alabama and is still, , the largest event ever held in Montgomery. , more than 50 years after Williams's death, members of the Drifting Cowboys continue to tour.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him number 74 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The website "Acclaimedmusic" collates recommendations of albums and recording artists. There is a year-by-year recommendation for top artists. For the period 1940–1949, Hank Williams is ranked as number 1 for his song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". Many rock and roll pioneers of the 1950s, such as Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Ricky Nelson, Jack Scott, Conway Twitty and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded Williams songs early in their careers.

In February 2005, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating that Williams' heirs—son Hank Williams Jr. and daughter Jett Williams—have the sole rights to sell his recordings made for a Nashville, Tennessee radio station in 1951. The court rejected claims made by Polygram Records and Legacy Entertainment in releasing recordings Williams made for the Mother's Best Flour Show, a program that originally aired on WSM-AM. The recordings, which Legacy Entertainment acquired in 1997, include live versions of Williams's hits and his cover version of other songs. Polygram contended that Williams's contract with MGM Records, which Polygram now owns, gave them rights to release the radio recordings. Jett Williams stated on her website in August 2007 that the "Mother's Best" recordings would be released in 2008. A 3 CD selection of the tracks, restored by Joe Palmaccio, was released by Time-Life in October 2008 titled The Unreleased Recordings.

In 1981, Drifting Cowboys steel guitarist Don Helms teamed up with Hank Williams, Jr. to record "The Ballad of Hank Williams". The track is a spoof or novelty song about Hank Sr.'s early years in the music business and his spending excesses. It was sung to the tune of "The Battle of New Orleans", made famous by Johnny Horton. Hank, Jr. begins by saying "Don, tell us how it really was when you was working with Daddy." Helms then goes into a combination of spoken word and song with Williams to describe how Hank, Sr. would "spend a thousand dollars on a hundred dollar show" among other humorous peculiarities.

The chorus line "So he fired my ass and he fired Jerry Rivers and he fired everybody just as hard as he could go. He fired Old Cedric and he fired Sammy Pruett. And he fired some people that he didn't even know" is a comical reference to Hank Williams' overreaction to given circumstances.

In 1991, country artist Alan Jackson released "Midnight in Montgomery", a song with lyrics that portray meeting Hank Williams' spirit at Williams' grave site while on his way to a New Year's Eve show.

Country artist Marty Stuart also paid homage to Williams with a tribute track entitled "Me And Hank And Jumping Jack Flash". The lyrics tell a story, similar to the "Midnight in Montgomery" theme but about an up-and-coming country music singer getting advice from Williams' spirit.

In 1983, country music artist David Allan Coe released "The Ride", a song that told a story of a young man with his guitar hitchhiking through Montgomery and being picked up by the ghost of Hank Williams in his Cadillac and driven to the edge of Nashville. "...You don't have to call me mister, mister, the whole world called me Hank".

In 1999, Williams was inducted in the Native American Music Hall of Fame.

Awards

Pulitzer Prize citation

On April 12, 2010, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Williams a posthumous special citation that paid tribute to his “craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.”

Music videos

Discography

Tributes

Songs

Songs that pay tribute to Williams include:

"This Ain't Montgomery" by Joey Allcorn & Hank Williams III

"Hank Williams' Ghost" by Darrell Scott.

"Hank and Fred" by Loudon Wainwright III.

"A Tribute To Hank Williams, My Buddy" by Luke McDaniel.

"The Car Hank Died In" by The Austin Lounge Lizards.

"Hank" by Her Make Believe Band

"Heart's Hall of Fame" by the Bailey Brothers.

"Time Marches On" by Tracy Lawrence "Reference"

"Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life" by Moe Bandy (written by Paul Craft).

"Long White Cadillac" was originally recorded by The Blasters. The song was written and later performed by guitarist Dave Alvin after he left the group. It was also covered by Dwight Yoakam.

"The Ride" by David Allan Coe tells the story of a drifting singer's encounter with the ghost of Hank Williams on a journey from Alabama to Nashville, Tennessee.

"Tower of Song" by Leonard Cohen.

"Talkin To Hank" by Mark Chesnutt.

"A Legend Froze In Time" by David Church.

"Hank Williams Said It Best" by Guy Clark and also covered recently by Mick Harvey.

"Alcohol and Pills" by Fred Eaglesmith and covered by Todd Snider.

"Tribute To Hank Williams" by Tim Hardin.

"The Life of Hank Williams" by Hawkshaw Hawkins.

"Midnight in Montgomery" by Alan Jackson.

"Winkin' Blinkin' Country Music Star" by Tex Garrison contains the lyrics "A Storybook Of Love Gone Wrong By Luke The Driftin' Vagabond".

"Here's to Hank" by Stonewall Jackson.

"The Night Hank Williams Came to Town" by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.

"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?", "If Old Hank Could Only See Us Now", and "Hank Williams Syndrome", all by Waylon Jennings.

"The Conversation" by Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr., with the opening lyric sung by Jennings, "Hank, let's talk about your daddy."

"Hank's Cadillac" by the group of the same name.

"Hank Williams' Cadillac" and "I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight" by Chris Wall.

"The Great Hank" by Robert Earl Keen, detailing a dream in which Hank Williams is singing in drag in a bar.

"Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?" by The Waterboys.

"The Ghost Of Hank Williams" by the Kentucky Headhunters.

"If You Don't Like Hank Williams" by Kris Kristofferson.

"Things Change" by Tim McGraw and "I Need You" by McGraw and wife Faith Hill.

"Hank's Cadillac" by Ashley Monroe.

"Nosferatu Man" by Slint contains the lyrics, "If I could settle down, I'd be doing just fine/Until I hear that old train, coming down the line" from Williams's song "Ramblin'Man".

"Hank, Karen And Elvis" by the Young Fresh Fellows

"Mission from Hank" by Aaron Tippin. Tippin also references Williams in "Ready to Rock (in a Country Kind of Way)".

"Time to Change my Name to Hank" written by Jim Flynn.

"I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight" by Jerry Jeff Walker.

"Crank the Hank" by Dallas Wayne.

"Family Tradition" by Hank Williams, Jr.

"If He Came Back Again" by The Highwaymen.

"Classic Cars" by Bright Eyes.

"Curse of Hank" by Tim Hus.

"Rollin' and Ramblin' (The Death of Hank Williams) R. & L. Williams and J. Clark". Covered by Emmylou Harris

"This Old Guitar" by Neil Young refers to Williams's original D-28 Martin guitar, which Young has toured with for over 30 years.

"From Hank to Hendrix" by Neil Young on both "Harvest Moon" and "Neil Young Unplugged" albumns.

"Tramp on Your Street" by Billy Joe Shaver.

"The Death of Hank Williams" and "Hank Williams Sings the Blues No More", both by Jimmie Logsdon.

"Hats Off to Hank" by Buzz Cason.

"I Couldn't Sleep for Thinkin' Of Hank Williams" by Henry McCullough

"Don't Look Down" by Grant Lee Phillips contains the line "Luke The Drifter and me thumbed us a ride down the highway of dreams".

"Rebel Meets Rebel" by Rebel Meets Rebel includes the chorus, "Rebel meets rebel, we've got our pride, like old Hank said, it's been a long, hard ride".

"The Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand Anymore)" by Hank Williams III includes the lyrics, "The Grand Ole Opry ain't so grand anymore/Did you know Hank Williams is not a member, but they keep him outside their door".

"Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" by George Jones refers to Williams in the lines, "You know the heart of country music still beats in Luke the Drifter, you can tell it when he sang 'I Saw the Light'".

"Hank Williams" by Ry Cooder.

"Roberta" by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz (underneath the black velvet painting of Elvis, Jesus and John Wayne walking together through eternity, watched over by Hank Sr.)

"Ghost of Hank Williams" by David Allan Coe.

"Hank it" by Justin Moore

"I Saw the Light" by David Crowder Band

"Crazy Town" by Jason Aldean

"My Kind of Party" Origionally sang by Branley Gilbert and covered by Jason Aldean "You can find me, in the back of a jacked up tailgate, chillin' with some Skynyrd and some old Hank"

"Hank" by Jason Boland & the Stragglers

Other songs include: "Hank, It Will Never Be the Same Without You", "Hank Williams Meets Jimmie Rodgers", "Tribute to Hank Williams", "Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul", "Hank Williams Will Live Forever", "The Ghost of Hank Williams," "In Memory of Hank Williams", "Thanks Hank", "Hank's Home Town", "Good Old Boys Like Me" (Hank Williams and Tennessee Williams), , "Why Ain't I Half as Good as Old Hank (Since I'm Feeling All Dead Anyway)?", "The Last Letter" (Mississippi disc jockey Jimmy Swan's reading of a letter to Williams by M-G-M boss Frank Walker) and Charley Pride's album There's a Little Bit of Hank in Me. (Brackett 2000, p. 219-22).

"I've Done Everything Hank Did But Die" written and performed by the late Keith Whitley. Never officially released, it was presumably recorded sometime after Keith had surpassed the age of 29, Hank's age when he died. Whitley, who like his idol battled alcoholism, died of acute alcohol poisoning at the age of 33.

On the album Show Me Your Tears, Frank Black's song "Everything Is New" recounts the tragedy of both Williams' and Johnny Horton's deaths. The relevant lyrics are: "Hiram said to John have you met my wife? Someday she'll be yours when I lose my life. He lost it after playing the old Skyline. Seven years later, after that same gig, John took the wheel, but when he got to the bridge Billy Jean was alone for the second time." Billy Jean of course refers to Billie Jean Jones (Jones being her maiden name) who married both Hiram "Hank" Williams and, later, John "Johnny" Horton. Both men died in vehicles, and both played their last (separate) concerts at Austin, Texas's "the old Skyline" Club (as the song mentions).

Albums

Williams tribute albums have been released by a diverse range of artists, including Connie Stevens, Floyd Cramer, George Jones, Glen Campbell, Freddy Fender, Moe Bandy, Ronnie Hawkins, Charlie Rich, Del Shannon, Sammy Kershaw, Trio Los Panchos and Hank Locklin. Some additional examples of albums recorded in Williams' honor include:

The tribute album Timeless was released in 2001, featuring cover versions of Hank Williams songs by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Keith Richards, Tom Petty, Hank Williams III and others.

Dion Dimucci famous for his Doo Wop songs, The Wanderer & Runaround Sue, named Hank Williams as his most influential artist and covered "Honky Tonk Blues" on his grammy nominated album, "Bronx in Blue", 2007.

Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis teamed up on the 1971 album Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis Sing Hank Williams, which featured covers of 12 of Williams's greatest hits.

British alternative band The The recorded a full album of Williams cover versions in 1994 entitled Hanky Panky. This was intended to be the first in a series of tribute albums by The The covering the work of influential songwriters and musicians, but no further albums were recorded or released.

Irish singer/songwriter Bap Kennedy covered 11 songs by Hank Williams on his 1999 album Hillbilly Shakespeare. His followup album Lonely Street, released in 2000, contains numerous references to Hank Williams, and on the sleeve notes, Kennedy acknowledges that the songs were inspired by Williams, as well as Elvis Presley.

Other tributes

The musical, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, recounts the high points and low points of Williams' life through performances of his best-known songs. The original cast recording of the show was released in 2003.

The play, Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave, is a fictional account of the concert he was traveling to when he died. Written by Maynard Collins, the play toured across Canada from 1977–1990, and starred Sneezy Waters. A film version was released in 1981. The movie premiered in Canada on April 1, 1981.

Images of a Country Drifter, a tribute to Williams in song and narration, has been performed by singer-songwriter David Church throughout the United States and Canada.

Film director Paul Schrader has a written an unproduced script entitled Eight Scenes From the Life of Hank Williams.

A film is in production about Williams' final car ride directed by Harry Thomason and starring Henry Thomas as Hank and Jesse James as the young driver.

Quotations

"A good song is a good song, and if I'm lucky enough to write it, well....! I get more kick out of writing than I do singing. I reckon I've written a thousand songs and had over 300 published." — Hank Williams "When I wrote about Hank Williams 'A hundred floors above me in the tower of song', it's not some kind of inverse modesty. I know where Hank Williams stands in the history of popular song. 'Your Cheatin' Heart', songs like that, are sublime, in his own tradition, and I feel myself a very minor writer." — Leonard Cohen

"I became aware that in Hank's recorded songs were the archetype rules of poetic songwriting. The architectural forms are like marble pillars and they had to be there. Even his words - all of the syllables are divided up so they make perfect mathematical sense. You can learn a lot about the structure of songwriting by listening to his records." — Bob Dylan

References

Further reading

External links

Official website

Official Hank Williams Fan Club

Williams interviews, photos, videos and message board on Hankville.com

[ Hank Williams] at AllMusic

Hankville fan website

Williams' boyhood home and museum

at the Country Music Hall of Fame – 1961 Inductee

at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – 1987 Inductee

at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame – 1985 Inductee

PBS – American Masters

Sites related to final day

Williams article, Encyclopedia of Alabama

A Hank Williams Discography

Listing of all Williams' songs and alternatives

'Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave'

"Unreleased Recordings" review on CountryMusicPride.com

Category:1923 births Category:1953 deaths Category:People from Jefferson County, Alabama Category:Baptists from the United States Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:American buskers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:People from Montgomery, Alabama Category:Musicians from Alabama Category:American people of English descent Category:MGM Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People with spina bifida Category:Drug-related deaths in West Virginia Category:Alcohol-related deaths in West Virginia Category:Pulitzer Prize winners

Name	Ray White
Landscape	no
Background	solo_singer
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Rock and roll, Blues rock, Soul
Occupation	Musician
Label	DiscReet Records, BlueSideDownStudios Recordings
Associated acts	Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa, Zappa Plays Zappa

Zappa Plays Zappa concert]]

Ray White is a soul vocalist and rock and blues guitarist, best-known as a member of Frank Zappa's touring ensembles. He was drafted into Zappa's band in the fall of 1976, being featured on rhythm guitar and vocals, forming a memorable vocal harmony partnership with Ike Willis on later tours in 1980 and 1984. White's vocals can be heard on Zappa in New York (March 1978), You Are What You Is (Sept 1981) as well as others.

White has also worked with jam-oriented groups like KVHW, Don't Push the Clown and Umphrey's McGee since his contributions to the Zappa band, and has more recently worked with a variety of Michigan artists, including former Rare Earth drummer Bob Weaver, as well as members of the funk/fusion combo Generic Produce.

In summer 2007 Ray White joined Dweezil Zappa as a special guest for the Zappa Plays Zappa Tour.

Ray White appears on Ed Englerth's song "I Forgot Who I Am" for Ed's new CD Restless Ghost on BlueSideDownStudios Recordings in 2008.

Ray quit Zappa Plays Zappa via email according to a Dweezil Zappa blog post on 4/1/09.

Beginning December 27, 2009, Ray joined Project/Object on tour of the northeast and north central US, along with Ike Willis, Andre Cholmondeley, keyboardist Eric Svalgaard, bassist David Johnsen, and drummer Jim Ruffi.

References

External links

United Mutations

Project Object

Category:African American musicians Category:American rock guitarists Category:American male singers Category:Living people