List of tributes to Hank Williams

Albums

Hank Williams tribute albums have been released by a diverse range of artists, including Connie Stevens, George Hamilton IV, Floyd Cramer, George Jones, Glen Campbell, Freddy Fender, Moe Bandy, Ronnie Hawkins, Charlie Rich, Del Shannon, Sammy Kershaw, Trio Los Panchos, Roy Orbison, Girls Guns and Glory 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. Cash's version of "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night", which appears on the album, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Timeless" was also awarded the Grammy for Best Country Album.

Dion DiMucci, famous for his doo-wop songs "The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue", named Hank Williams as his most influential artist and covered "Honky Tonk Blues" on his Grammy-nominated album "Bronx in Blue" in 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 follow-up 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.

Songs

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," popularized 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's overreaction to given circumstances.[1] In 1991 country artist Alan Jackson released "Midnight in Montgomery", a song whose lyrics portray meeting Hank Williams's spirit at Williams's gravesite while on his way to a New Year's Eve show.[2] 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's spirit.[3] 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."[4]

Songs that pay tribute to Williams include:

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" was written and performed by Keith Whitley. Never officially released, it was presumably recorded sometime after Whitley 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).

Films

Your Cheatin' Heart is the first biographical film about Hank Williams, directed by Gene Nelson in 1964. It starred George Hamilton as Hank and Susan Oliver as Audrey Williams.

David Acomba directed Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave in 1980, starring Sneezy Waters.

The Canadian film Hank Williams First Nation was directed by Aaron James Sorensen and released in 2004. This country star's location was Nashville, Tennessee rather than Montgomery, Alabama.

The Last Ride is a 2011 film depicting the last four days of William's life. Directed by Harry Thomason, the film stars Henry Thomas as Hank and Jesse James as Silas the young driver.[5]

Film director Paul Schrader has written an unproduced script entitled Eight Scenes From the Life of Hank Williams.[6]

It was announced in 2014 that British actor Tom Hiddleston would star in a Marc Abraham biography of Williams entitled I Saw the Light.[7] Hiddleston sang Williams' country classic "Move It On Over" at the Wheatland Music Festival. Williams' grandson, singer Hank Williams III, has publicly expressed his displeasure with the film, saying it's "deeply flawed."[8]

Other tributes

The Off-Broadway musical Hank Williams: Lost Highway, co- authored by Randal Myler and Mark Harelik, earned an Obie award for star Jason Petty and numerous other New York City theatre award nominations for producer David Fishelson and director Randal Myler in 2003, including "Best Musical" and "Best Off-Broadway Musical" from the Lortel and Outer Critics Circle organizations. In addition, the show earned positive reviews from the national press: Rolling Stone critic and editor Anthony DeCurtis wrote, “I was genuinely surprised, even stunned by [Fishelson's version of] Hank Williams: Lost Highway.... a rare achievement in any musical theater that I've ever seen;” and Jeremy McCarter of New York magazine called the production "electrifying", "the most successful jukebox musical I've seen," and "New York's most exciting new musical since Urinetown."[9][10][11][12][13] 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, made for Canadian TV, first aired on December 31, 1980.

On Dolly Parton's 2008 album, Backwoods Barbie, the song "The Lonesomes" mentions Hank Williams: "Just like that old song by Hank Williams, I am so lonesome I could cry." On her 2014 album Blue Smoke, the song "Home" mentions Williams when saying "I'm so lonesome I could cry just like old Hank."

The chorus of Waylon Jennings' hit "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" refers to "...Hank Williams pain songs and Newbury's train songs, and blue eyes cryin' in the rain."

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.

Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen refers 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

American indie rock band Bright Eyes references Williams' death in "Classic Cars":

She was a real royal lady
True patron of the arts
Said the best country singers
Die in the back of classic cars

Music videos

Year Video Director
1989 "There's a Tear in My Beer" (with Hank Williams, Jr.) Ethan Russell
"Honky Tonk Blues"
1996 "Cold, Cold Heart Buddy Jackson

Sources

  1. ↑ Larkin, Colin. Missing or empty |title= (help) p.127
  2. ↑ Celon, Curtis. Missing or empty |title= (help) p.80
  3. ↑ Escott,, Colin; Florita, Kira. Missing or empty |title= (help) p.117
  4. ↑ Tichi, Cecelia. Missing or empty |title= (help) p.18
  5. ↑ Kit, Borys (30 March 2010). "'Big Bang' star lands lead in 'I Hop' film". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 3, 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  6. ↑ Kouvaros, George (2008), Paul Schrader, University of Illinois Press, p. 45, ISBN 0-252-07508-0
  7. ↑ "IMDb listing for 2015 release of "I Saw the Light".".
  8. ↑ "Fox News: Hank Williams' grandson criticizes 'I Saw the Light' biopic.".
  9. ↑ "2003 Lucille Lortel Awards Nominees". LortelAward.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  10. ↑ Gans, Andrew (May 4, 2003). "Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced; Hairspray Leads the Pack". Playbill. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  11. ↑ DeCurtis, Anthony (December 23, 2002). "Rocking My Life Away: Hank Williams Comes Alive Off Broadway". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  12. ↑ McCarter, Jeremy (March 12, 2006). "Man in Black II". New York Magazine. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ McCarter, Jeremy (August 14, 2005). "Rip. Mix. Burn". New York Magazine. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
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