Hank & Muddy

by Stephen Mertz

In steamy Shreveport, Louisiana, two musical legends-in-the-making come together: a whiskey-soaked country singer named Hank Williams and blues artist Muddy Waters. What they've got in common over several hectic days of drinking, singing and whoring is an interest in staying alive despite local mobsters, bent cops, and a truckload of Ku Klux Klansmen. Then there's the bankrobber's daughter. . .

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Pen name - Stephen Brett, Don Pendleton, Jack Buchanan, Jim Case, Cliff Banks.

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, fast-paced novel that teams up the Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams with Blues genius Muddy Waters for an unlikely but enjoyable crime thriller. Author Stephen Mertz has spent decades writing men's adventure books and he brings that same pulpy energy to this novel, whilst also inserting a little of each man's biography and bringing them to life as characters.
They're pitched against a formidable band of opponents - corrupt sheriffs, g-men and the KKK - and the plot moves with the velocity you'd expect. The 50s US south setting is well done and there's a real colour and vibrancy to the backdrop. Throw in a whole bunch of twists and turns and a little emotion and you have a very entertaining read.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re fan of men’s action/adventure novels, you may already know that Stephen Mertz is one of the best writers to work in that genre. He was a friend and protégé of Don Pendleton and penned some of the most popular entries in the Mack Bolan/Executioner series under Pendleton’s name. He created the equally gritty M.I.A. HUNTER series, which is right up there with The Executioner in my opinion. More recently, Mertz created the KILLROY mystery series and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE-style CODY’S ARMY, both of which I’ve enjoyed a lot. If you’re a fan of any those or other Mertz novels but haven’t read HANK & MUDDY, you need to. It’s a unique and entertaining novel that combines Mertz’s knack for action/adventure writing with his love of — and deep knowledge of — traditional blues and country music. Mertz is himself a talented blues musician. Although he has played in bands throughout much of his life, he made the choice to become a professional writer instead of trying to make his living as a musician. In HANK & MUDDY, Mertz gets to follow that other path by projecting himself into the minds of two great, legendary American musicians: Chicago blues giant Muddy Waters and country star Hank Williams. In fact, the chapters in the novel alternate between the viewpoints of Muddy and Hank. Half are told from the imaginary first-person perspective of Muddy, and half from Hank’s. Both tell their version of a wild fictional adventure in Louisiana, in which they met and then worked together to deal with threats posed by several types of dangerous villains, including mobsters, the Ku Klux Klan, dirty cops and thieves. It’s one of the most imaginative and fun novels I’ve read in years and one of Mertz’s best — which is saying a lot.

[Dennis Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m probably one of a handful of readers who picked up this book with anticipation and trepidation. I grew up listening to Hank Williams. In my younger days with a country band, I sang Hank’s songs. Later I hosted a weekly radio show and highlighted Hank’s songs every week. I read the biographies.
I also love the blues and listened to the old blues guys like Muddy Waters a lot in my passion for music.
So I came to the book hoping it was both entertaining and accurate. It’s one thing to write nonfiction about a couple of the greats in music. It’ s another to get inside the men and bring them to life in fiction.
Mertz, who was a musician before he turned to writing, does an incredible job. Every detail rang true and Hank is the boastful, womanizing, alcoholic, insecure genius I grew up loving. Muddy is the hard ass, womanizing black musician in the south who grew up with blatant racism and lives with it as a matter of course.
This is a murder mystery revolving around Hank’s notebook of songs that has been stolen. It’s also a character study and a look at a time in our history when a successful black musician was just as vulnerable as any other black man and could take a lawman’s bullet without any consequences. (This is also a reminder that not much has changed over the decades.)
Hank, on the other hand, was the first “rock star,” idolized by his fans while he made music and burned the candle from both ends.
Mertz also shows that Hank, who pioneered soulful ballads and arguably the seeds of rockabilly, and Muddy, a blues pioneer, appreciated each other’s works. Just as importantly, they learn to care about each other as Hank flees hoods and Muddy eludes the police.
Hank and Muddy is an excellent novel on many levels and I can’t remember a book I’ve enjoyed so much in a long time.

[Bonnye Reed]

99c

[PulpMonkey (Chompa) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A character in a Joe Lansdale short story was reading this book. I looked it up and it sounded interesting.

The portrayals of Hank Williams and Muddy Waters are interesting and not entirely flattering, but seem to ring fairly true. Hank especially (in 1952) was bottoming out.

The plot was pretty good with a fair amount of action and lots of detail about the music. I think musicians and fans of either Hank or Muddy would enjoy the book.