“But I learned t´chose my idols well
T´be my voice and tell my tale
An´help me fight my phantom brawl
An´my first idol was Hank Williams
For he sang about the railroad lines
An´the iron bars an´rattlin´wheels
Left no doubt that they were real´.”
(Bob Dylan in Liner notes to “Joan Baez in concert, Part 2”, 1963)

“Every time I hear Hank sing, all movement ceases. The slightest whisper seems sacrilege.”

“I became aware that in Hank’s recorded songs were the archetype rules of poetic songwriting. The architectural forms are like marble pillars.” (Bob Dylan, Chronicles, 2004)

“His voice went through me like an electric rod.”  (Bob Dylan, Chronicles, 2004)

Some of the best die young, and the young man born Hiram King Williams, later known “Hank”, was surely one of them. A legend in his own time, the story of his death in the back of a Cadillac, at New Year’s Eve, on the road to the next show, just added to an already spectacular history of the road from rags to riches and back again, love and lost love, pictures from life’s other side, about being alone and forsaken as well as lovesick and happy rovin’, about seeing the light and about seeing nothing but darkness, about fame, not being what it claim, not even for the “Hillbilly Shakespeare”, “The Love Sick Blues Boy”, not for “Luke The Drifter”, “Herman Willis” or for Hank Williams. A country song in his own right.

Born in Butler County, Alabama, 17th of September in 1923, Hank was named Hiram King after Hiram I from the Book of Kings, a great phoenician king and ally of the more known King David, the one who fought against Goliath. Young Hiram should also be a king in another kind of kingdom, he became a King of Hearts and he became an undisputed King of Country Music, till this day an endless inspiration for generations of singers and songwriters, both for his contemporaries as for generations to come, not limited to the country genre, but to a much wider audience, both directly and through thousands of cover versions and cross-over recordings.

He got his name when he was born, but he also was born with the diagnosis of Spina Bifida Occulta, a defect of the spinal column, causing Hank lifelong pain in his back, certainly playing a role in a life in need of different kind of pain killers. None of the Hank Williams biographies fail to mention this fact as an important reason for his escalating alcohol and sometime drug abuse, most certainly part of the explanation. Listening to his songs, learning about his life story, one would think there is more than one reason.

I wrote thoroughly about the revised release of “Mother’s Best Recordings” of Hank Williams, a few years ago, the fabulous collection named “Pictures from Life’s Other Side”, and my post was called

Play “Pictures From Life’s Other Side”! – Hank Williams – His “Mother’s Best Recordings”, BMG 2020.

(For you who might the interested, there are many videos and links to songs and information in this blogpost, and I won’t repeat them here.)

The collection of songs are remarkable, although in different recordings (radio broadcast with more of a live feeling) than the official releases of the songs – still, in my opinion, a very valuable addition to the original output, most recommended.

Bob Dylan calls Hank Williams songs the “the archetype rules of poetic songwriting. The architectural forms are like marble pillars”, and, two years after Dylan, Hank Williams got his Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 2010 though posthumous, “for 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.”

When Dylan says “Every time I hear Hank sing, all movement ceases. The slightest whisper seems sacrilege“, it underlines the unique performing qualities of Hank’s artistry, in many ways like Dylan a singer first, a singer that writes songs & poetry, more than the other way around. They both needed the right songs to sing.

Hank’s recording career lasted from December 1946 (Sterling Records) to September 1952 (MGM from 1947-1953), that’s when it comes to his recording sessions – his first single, “Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door)” was released in January 1947, and “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive” was released in November 1952, just a few weeks before he died. 27 singles (five of them became million sellers) and two LP albums were released during Hank’s lifetime, then posthumously released recordings and hit singles continued to arrive the next years. 30 of his songs reached Billboard’s Top Country & Western Records, 11 of them became number one hits.

A flood of compilations, radio broadcasts, live and archival recordings has appeared through the years, adding to both the legend and the legacy of this unique artist, the one that for a few songs appeared under the name “Luke The Drifter” – Hank insisted on making some spoken word, strong moral narrations and talking blues songs in a well known tradition, but his manager, Fred Rose, insisted they had to be under another name, to not confuse the market – moral sermons in the jukebox could be taken the wrong way. Hank himself referred to Luke The Drifter as “one of my closest relatives” or “my half brother” – the two of them both writing about different sides & pictures of life, and life only, magnetic performances lifted the songs and won the hearts of the audience, still do for the people who get to know Hank Williams and/or the songs, many years after Hank left us.

This song was released in November, but reached the top of the lists after Hank’s death. Only 29 years old, he was in a bad shape, and Chet Atkins who joined the session, tell us the following: “We recorded ‘I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive’ and after each take, he’d sit down in a chair. I remember thinking, ‘Hoss, you’re not jivin’,’ because he was so weak that all he could do was just sing a few lines, and then just fall in the chair.” It is heartbreaking to read this, even today, knowing that this rich and creative soul struggled in such a hard way, the last part of his young life.

His first hit (#4 on Billboard) was “Move It On Over” (1947), really making Hank Williams a household name for lovers of country music.

His first # 1 hit was the legendary “Lovesick Blues”, not a Hank Williams original, but written and released by Elsie Clark already the year before Hank was born. Many versions were released before Hank’s, still he will forever be remembered as the King also of this song, winning all the hearts in Grand Ole Opry with this one, having to play it several times on his first visit there.

In 2001 “Timeless – Tribute to Hank Williams” was released, and a long string of great artists contributed to the project Bob Dylan initiated. Many great contributions, but I especially love Ryan Adam’s cool take on “Lovesick Blues”.

Bob Dylan of course contributed himself, here with the song “I Can’t Get You Off Of My Mind”:

As Hank Williams was Bob Dylan’s first idol, he was included also in Dylan’s younger years, well known from Dont Look Back, both with “Lost Highway” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, both associated with and made known by Hank, but the first of the two a song by Leon Payne, who also released it first.

Even before this, even before his first album, he played Lonesome Whistle, later also an outtake from Freewheelin’ Sessions.

In the Basement, Dylan also recorded “Be Careful of Stones That You Throw”, a song first released by “Luke The Drifter” in 1952. Here you can compare the two.

No doubt where Dylan got his inspiration for this one.

Even in Dylan’s Gospel Years, at least at one sound-check, he dove into the songbook of Hank, another “Luke The Drifter”, released in 1950. He also recorded a version of “Cold, Cold Heart” at the Shot of Love recording sessions, later released at the Bootleg Series “Springtime In New York”.

A House of Gold was released posthumous in 1954, while Dylan played the song live twice in 1989, here in a pretty rough version.

Dylan also played a great version of Honky Tonk Blues a few times in 1999.

A few years ago Bob Dylan was asked by Hank Williams’ family to set music to some some songs found in a shoe box after Hank’s death. Dylan invited a fine bunch of artists to participate in this very exciting project, “Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams”.

The Love That Faded is Dylan’s performance and melody, a song that easily goes with the dylanesque universe we all know:

The love that faded left me only tears
Days that were happy turned into lonely years
Vows that we made turned into lies
My life is empty, my lonely heart cries

Lots of great stuff on this album, check it out – one of my favorites is the great Jack White’s perfectly executed You Know That I Know.

Of course, there is absolute no coincidence that Leonard Cohen humbly turns to Hank Williams in Tower of Song:

“I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song”

A fabulous songwriter himself, here Cohen points to a great idol.

Lots of great songwriters had the need to make a tribute to their hero. Here are some of them.

Then there of course is Steve Young’s beautiful Montgomery In The Rain with more than one time mentioning Hank.

So if it’s alright with you before
I get back the train
I’m a go out to Hank’s tombstone
And cry up a thunderstorm
I got to see Montgomery in the rain

Other just sang his songs, widely across genres. Almost every country singer got some Hank Williams songs in their repertoire, and many great cover versions exist in that field (Maybe one day a blog post with great country covers of Hank will be an idea), but when it comes to music there is no need for border control, and Hank’s music wasn’t stopped by genres – here I’ll choose to give you some examples of this. Among them was Ray Charles with his beautiful version of Take These Chains From My Heart, from his groundbreaking album Modern Songs In Country And Western Music, this special song written by Hank’s manager Fred Rose, first released by Hank Williams. As a little boy the single version of this might be the one I played the most of all. Here a live version with Ray.

The late Tony Bennett topped Billboard’s list with Cold Cold Heart already in 1951, a very important release when it comes to breaking the door open for the cross-over potential in Hank’s songs.

When Norah Jones released her 20 million-selling debut album, receiving 8 Grammys, Cold Cold Heart was the third song on this album – a fine version and a really great job in promoting the songwriter Hank Williams.

The list of cover versions is “endless”, and impossible to get through. Here I just give a few examples of the very wide range of genres and artists picking songs from Williams’ catalogue.

Even the fabulous Tom Waits makes a wonderful Hank Williams cover with his take on Ramblin’ Man.

What about some Hank punk?

“The The” made the album “Hanky Panky” – a fullblown tribute to Hank Williams.

Elvis Costello of course is a great lover of country music, and here delivers a beautiful rendition of You Win Again.

In the same way we all know that Keith Richards is a sucker for country music, but here he is having a ball with the rest of the Stones on the same song, with Mick at the mike. Then Keith alone.

It’s well known that Charlie Parker loved Hank Williams, bewildering his fellow musicians when he sometimes only played Hank Williams on the jukebox – his advice was: Listen to the words, man. He didn’t cover Hank, but another great king of jazz did.

Many “Hank Williams songs” were not written by Hank Williams, even if he was the first to release them. Other were released in one or many versions before Hank’s recording, but often he was the one who made the “definitive” or best known version, then inspiring new covers. My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It is an example, at least four versions released before Hank’s, but he made it his own. Today there are about 130 covers of the song, one of them was Louis Armstrong, the year after Hank’s release.

Holmes Brothers & Rosanne Cash made this beautiful cover of one of Hank’s most heartbreaking songs.

Here with Anita Carter and Hank himself – a beautiful moment in country music, and one of my favorite songs of Hank.

Lots of great biographies out there, also biopics of varied quality. So far my favorite biography is Colin Escott’s “Hank Williams: The Biography”, while I’m now reading Mark Ribowsky’s “Hank (The short life and long country road of Hank Williams)”, also very promising.

It’s very personal for me to salute the memory of Hank Williams. He was one of my first idols from I was a little boy, long before I learned the words he sang, together with Ray Charles and Fats Domino, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and others – and I listened to the heartbreaking sound of Luke The Drifter many years before I got to know the music of Bob Dylan. I totally understand Dylan’s words about a physical experience listening to Hank’s voice, even the backing with the steel guitar before Hank starts to sing, today makes a deep impression – reminding me of the times I got to love this music and the sound of Hank. It goes as deep as it gets, to a place deeper than words and what words can describe. It isn’t so much an analysis, but a very simple fact – his voice and songs went straight to my heart. The fact that Hank’s 100th Birthday is here, can’t go unrecognized, not for me at least. If just one more person will give him and his songs a try, my mission is accomplished.

Happy Birthday, King Hank – your spirit and your music will live forever – thanks!

Johnny Borgan