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by: Colin Escott, George Merritt, William MacEwen
List Price: $16.99Amazon.com's Price: $11.55 You Save: $5.44 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.421642092
EAN: 9780316734974
ISBN: 0316734977
Label: Back Bay Books
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 388
Publication Date: April 13, 2004
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Sales Rank: 55772
Studio: Back Bay Books
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In his brief life, Hank Williams created one of the defining bodies of American music. Songs such as 'Your Cheatin' Heart,' 'Hey, Good Lookin',' and 'Jambalaya' sold millions of records and became the model for virtually all country music that followed. But by the time of his death at age 29, Williams had drunk and drugged and philandered his way through two messy marriages and out of his headline spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Even though he was country music's top seller, Williams was so famously unreliable toward the end that he was lucky to get a booking in a beer hall. Now Colin Escott adds the fruit of several years of impeccable new research to what was already the most full-blooded portrait of Hank Williams. With the benefit of recently discovered legal files, exclusive access to Williams's autopsy, and new research on the singer's final hours, Escott brings to light much that was previously unknown or hidden about Hank Williams.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The real Hank
Hank left very little documented about his personal self, outside of what was projected in his songs. Also, few to none can or could claim to actually "know" the man, his deepest thoughts and emotions. It is clear to fans of Hank that this is where his story is. I give Escott much credit for digging for all the fine detailed facts he could find on Williams, and that is what the books reads like, a cognitive listing of scarce facts, and leaves a mental picture of Hank only as a simple alcoholic. ... Read More
Rating:  - Sad, but true!
Just finished this book after recently getting into Hank's music. Colin Escott nails it, a wonderful work that explores the tragedy that was Hank Williams. I remember growing up in the late 20th century northern America, whenever I heard the term "country music", I always pictured some tall, lanky "hillbilly" that spoke and sang with a twang - the stereotype, or so I thought. Hank Williams created the stereotype I had in my head, but Escott tells us so much more that he did.
From his ... Read More
Rating:  - Ole Hank: From rags to riches to rags to hillybilly heaven
Hank Williams (aka Luke the Drifter) lived 29 hard years from his hardscrabble youth in Alabama to his tragic death in the backseat of a car on Jan. 1, 1953. Along the way Hank managed to
live in what was often an alcholoh induced haze.
Williams was raised by his tough as nails mother Miss Lillian
who was oft married, ruled the roost and tried to control the erratic genius of her wayward son. Hank had an affinity for strong minded women. His first wife Audrey and second wife Billie ... Read More
Rating: - A good followup to Roger Williams' SING A SAD SONG
Except for Jesus Christ and Robert E. Lee, no other person has affected the conscious and unconscious mind of the average Southerner as has Hank Williams.
Colin Escott's biography is less sentimental and more sensationalized than Roger Williams', but is it really more detailed? After all, you can only get so much material within a given number of pages. Nevertheless, every time you re-read this book, you pick up facts and suggestions you never noticed before.
Of course, this is necessarily ... Read More
Rating: - Did you ever see a robin weep...
Giving this book 5 Stars is as big an understatement as saying Hank could sing a heartbreak song.After all these years he is still the person who had the biggest impact on Country Music.I miss greatly the great music we used to hear on our radios we got from Hank and many others for so many years.This music which was written by,loved by,lived by and told about the hopes,struggles,sorrow,happiness and every other aspect of life of the people came from the singers and songwriters themselves.It is such a shame ... Read More
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