Recommendations of the Editorial team
The 100 best musicians of all time: Hank Williams – Essay from Beck
Hank songs such as “Lonesome whistle” and “Your Cheatin ‘Heart” are wonderful to sing along because they are 100 percent bullshit-free. The words, the melody, the feeling – everything is there, everything is razor -sharp and without double soil. You need a pronounced linguistic economy and simplicity to press an idea or a feeling into a song – and Hank Williams is the perfect example.
He had a voice with which you could split wood. She sounded as if she came from another part of his body. He did not need an amplifier if he sang in crowded Spelunken; Even the drunk’s noise at the bar had no chance against his organ. The localities in which he appeared were so riotous that he made a wrestler named Cannonball Nichols his bass player. He lived, as is probably the case today: Nothing but tours, drinking and trouble with the women.
Hank may be the archetypal Hillbilly, but other levels are open to the surface
I bought a Hank sampler on vinyl for $ 4.99, and it was as if I had found the key to a secret safe. Of course, his records for country music are incredibly significant, but in my case they had a completely different charm: they sounded so exotic. It is not unimportant that an older colored musician taught him to play the guitar: Hank may be the archetypal Hillbilly, but other levels open under the surface. For a while he was even my exclusive reference: for years I played his songs and made the conscious attempt to write songs that should be as direct and blunt as his.