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Hank Williams: The Biography
This compelling account reveals much that was previously unknown or hidden about Hank Williams's life and takes its place as the authoritative biography of this country music legend.
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
April 13th 2004
by Little, Brown and Company
(first published 1994)
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Even if you don't like Hank Williams, his songs made an enormous impact on rock and roll, country music and gospel. People thought he was a tortured soul, a vagabond and an alcoholic. He was all of those things, but the pain from undiagnosed spina bifida which caused him lifelong pain. He probably used drugs and alcohol to ease the constant pain. His legacy can't be understated and this is a good biography.
If you're looking for a book on Hank, this is THE ONE. Well researched and engagingly written. The life of country music's biggest star and biggest enigma is in many ways a mystery. Escott takes the enormously difficult task of finding the real man and does a bang up job. There's a great companion piece produced by the Author for the American Masters series on PBS called "Honky Tonk Blues."
Cade
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Hank Williams Sr. Fans, Country music fans
A great look into Hank's life. It gave me an even better appreciation of his music and the roots of Country music. Very interesting to see how the record companies owned and controled so much of the industry.
this book quickly dispels many myths about the life and death and family of Hank Williams. I am only on the second chapter and am up to age 17, so I wonder how the rest of the book will discuss his remaining 12 years. well written.
A must-read if you want to know about country musics most famous hitmaker.
What a fascinating and tragic life! Like many musicians, Hank Williams' life is shrouded in legend, rumors, and assumptions made to fill in unknown gaps. This book takes every story and gives all versions of each one, giving a sometimes clearer, sometimes murkier, image of Hank's life, and it made me sad to think that there are still so many unknowns about him. Already knowing something about Hank, I still feel like I learned more about him.
I read this biography after going to the Country Music Hall of Fame and becoming intrigued by the salacious details of Hank Williams's life. Reading this meticulous biography, I felt a little like an imposter since I'm not as familiar with his music as I should be. For true fans, this bio can't be beat. For me, well I skipped around to piece together the soap opera parts. And even those parts alone made for a great book.
This book might be better if so much of the information about Hank wasn't so incomplete and/or sketchy. The writing, however, would likely be dry and lifeless no matter how much verifiable data existed.
great biography of ol' hank
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