Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams

by Paul Hemphill

Hank Williams, the quintessential country music singer and songwriter, lived a life as lonesome, desolate, and filled with sorrow as his timeless songs. From Williams’s dirt-poor beginnings as a sickly child to his emergence as a star of the Grand Ole Opry, Lovesick Blues is the definitive biography of the man and his music.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, American

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Paul James Hemphill was an American journalist and author who wrote extensively about often-overlooked topics in the Southern United States such as country music, evangelism, football, stock car racing and the blue collar people he met on his journeys around the South.

Reviews

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars, and this might be, in part, because even though I grew up with a dad who listened to Classical Music and also folk (the stuff popular in the 1950s and 1960s--my first introduction to the Aussie anthem Walzing Matilida was as sung by Harry Belafonte, for example) and then rebelled to rock--none of my friends listened to country at that time, I have a secret love of some real cowboy music, yodelling and all when done well (and a not-so-secret love of Spirituals and the blues--and I grew up on the west coast of Canada, mostly, not in the American south, but I am drawn to some of that music). The reason? One of my parents' good friends sang and played this stuff and, apparently was as good as, and I am quoting lyrics from a song written about him by a pro, "the late Jimmie, Hank Snow and Wilf all in one" (that's Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Snow and Wilf Carter). He played socially at parties (some where there were kids) and evidently it rubbed off on me. He worked as a logger (I think he was a faller) and his second wife (I can't remember his first one since he divorced her when I was preschool age) was a school teacher.

Yes, I know, none of that has anything to do with Hank Williams, but of course it does to me, because Hank had heard Jimmie Rodgers and others were influenced by Williams. He had a short and very troubled life, but when I went to Youtube to see why he had the longest ovation ever heard of at the Grand Ole Opry, while I wasn't fond of that song, when I listened to him sing a few of his best sad songs, I could completely understand why so many women went crazy for him--he had a voice that was amazing. The book was a good length for the length of his life, and I thought the writer did him justice. Plus his dad and he were huge fans of Hank Williams and grew up in Alabama, so there's that. Williams had a rough life from the time he was born, so it's not shocking that he was such a heavy drinker, etc, and while he didn't have any formal education in music, he was taught chords by an aunt he lived with for a year and later he spent a great deal of time with a black street musician (also played in side), hanging around with him, learning from him and admiring what he did until the Williams family moved again.

One thing that Hank did in his short career was to have not only a very high number of number one hits, but a very high percentage of recordings that made it to number one. You can say that the field was smaller, and that might be true, but that was no mean feat even then.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking the backstage tour of the Ryman Auditorium (the Mother Church of Country Music) in Nashville last summer, 2015, I, along with a gaggle of fellow tourists were crowded into the small green room where Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr., and countless other legends prepped and relaxed before those storied performances. The little room had a real atmosphere, the kind that even an agnostic might find palpable enough to include the presence of ghosts. The tour guide was a marvelous, chatty, old bird who lived and breathed this stuff, and at one point he posed a question to the crowd asking, "Anybody know any of the nicknames that Hank used to record by?" After a short uncomfortable pause, it was clear nobody knew the answer but me. "Luke the Drifter," I said. "Luke, the Drifter! That's right!"

It was one of those moments where my small pride was tempered by the feeling that everyone else was thinking I was just a big know-it-all.

As it happened, I have a copy of some of Hank's Luke the Drifter material in my vast music archive and had listened to some of it before the tour. I like to prep a little to appreciate tours, whenever possible.

Several years prior to this, I had read this short biography of Williams. The following is the largely untouched review of it I had written in 2008:

I had no idea before reading this book that there were so many biographies of Williams out there, but a quick glance at Amazon confirms this. This one by Paul Hemphill is the latest one [as of 2008], and I'm glad I picked it up for $2 on the clearance shelf at Half Price Books. I can't imagine that any of the other ones are better written or more thoughtful. Maybe some detail is missing that one might encounter in the longer bios, but this one gets at the essence, the faults and the art of the man while giving us the basic facts.

It's barely over 200 pages, so there's no padding. It's refreshing to encounter a biography that's this concise, precise and breezily and intelligently written. I love the device of starting the book with the author's personal first encounter with Williams' music. It gives us a feel for the Southern milieu and sets the scene for the real subject's life, and conveys the pull of Williams' magic art.

The book does a good job of interweaving topics such as how the music industry operated in those days, and touches on such phenomena as border radio, roadhouses, juke joints, the "farm" system of making it to the Grand Ole Opry, and more. And, of course, there's plenty about the hellish marriage of Hank and "Ordrey," as he called her, and his infamous boozing and brawling. For those who want to fill a knowledge gap about a fundamental chapter in the history of American music, this book is a good source.

(kevinR@Ky, 2008, with new prefacing material added in 2016)

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for a good book on the life of one of the great artists; happily I got so much more.

What makes this book work so well is the author's understanding and personal attachment, not just to Hank, but the world that Hank came from; the waitresses and truck drivers that made up his core audience. He was old enough to have been a fan eagerly awaiting a new song or huddled around the radio to listen to him play the Opry; young enough to have been able to drift away from him and then return, with a deeper understanding of how his own father was touched by Williams.

In his tragically short life Hank Williams left a small body of work, which now is looked on as a whole, but this book puts the songs in a different context by placing them in line with what was happening in his life at the time. With modern artists, even those long past, you can place albums in order of release and get an idea of context, but Hank never released albums, just a constant stream of singles and so the songs easily lose their place in time. "Lonesome Blues" and "Your Cheating Heart' may be two of his most well known, but one was effectively his debut and the other recorded literally days before his death - which is which? Read the book...

The recent film 'I Saw The Light' was awful. Having read this book I can appreciate that it was actually even worse than that. Hank's music belongs purely to the people that he meant it to be for; his honesty and often brutally exposed emotions may well hide behind the steel guitar and upbeat rhythms and yodels, but if someone tells you that Hank Williams was one of the greatest songwriters of any genre, ever, then I guarantee you will never change their mind because it goes beyond understanding, it's a connection.

As his grandson stated in one his best songs - "Not everybody likes us, but we drive some folk wild...'

[Corey Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of this book's detractors make the same argument - that it's a book that didn't need to be written. After all, Colin Escott already wrote the definitive biography on Hank Williams. What's more, Escott based his book mostly on original research, interviewing virtually everyone who ever knew Hank Williams. Hemphill admittedly based his work mostly on Escott's biography, as well as a few other published sources. But his book is still a worthwhile, shorter, biography of the king of country music.

What Hemphill brings to the table is his inimitable writing style, his unique persepctive on country music, and a personal story regarding his love for Hank Williams, which he tells in a prologue and epilogue that wraps the story. Hemphill clearly loves his subject, but presents an unvarnished picture of a flawed genius. His writing is engaging and he uses the same ecstatic language that characterizes his first book, The Nashville Sound.

Colin Escott may know more about Hank Williams than any layman, but Paul Hemphill writing makes you want more.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this was too career oriented. I wanted a more intimate look at Hank Williams. It was all very matter-of-fact. It was interesting, but I find myself wanting to pick up another book about Hank in order to fill in the gaps.

[De Ongeletterde · Rating 3 out of 5]

In deze biografie van Hank Williams, één van de grootste echte country-sterren wiens songs mij enorm aanspreken, begint en eindigt Paul Hemphill met de link die hij en zijn vader zelf hadden met Hank, luisterend naar en geraakt door zijn muziek. Daarmee maken ze dit biografisch verhaal wat persoonlijker. Het levensverhaal van deze countryzanger is op zich al een wilde rit tot hij op zijn negenentwintigste sterft en als lezer word je meegesleurd tussen de successen en de dieptepunten in diens leven.
Voor mij is Hank Willliams op Johnny Cash na de grootste ster uit de country. Zijn songtitels alleen al ("I'm so lonesome I could cry", "There's a tear in my beer", "You're gonna change (of I'm gonna leave", "I'll never get out of this world alive",..) zijn pareltjes en de simpele, directe taal die hij hanteert, weet me steeds te bekoren. Ik ben blij dat ik nu ook meer weet over de zanger achter die liedjes.

[Donna Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Hemphill put in a lot of time and research to write this book. I am not really a true country music fan, but because country music is in part the history of the US working class, it's an important book for me to read (and of course, I love memoirs and biographies in general).

Williams grew up during the Depression. Whereas some who would be music stars gave up a great deal for their shot at fame, Williams had nothing to lose. His father had departed, and his mother was a bully and a user who would later ask about his car, when he was dead, before inquiring about his death or the disposition of his remains. He learned that he could at least earn enough money singing and playing the guitar to earn his food and some pocket money...which would go for booze. LOTS of booze.

Before he was out of school, Hiram, whose name became "Harm" once the local accent was accounted for, had renamed himself the cooler-sounding "Hank Williams" and had jobs playing at road-houses and other local venues in Alabama. He had a small band which included the "new" steel guitar, and he had his own sound. At first he and his roadies were always safely stowed back at home by 10 PM so that he could be present at school the next day, but his genius was not a conventional one, and music meant more to him than anything the classroom of the time period could offer him. His illiteracy was in fact so complete that even after he began making a lot of money, he would trustingly empty all his pockets onto the counter at the local bank and instruct the teller that "I make it. You count it." Before his life and career were over, he would play in concert venues all around the continental US and Europe.

Some of the places he played in initially were tough enough that chicken wire surrounded the band so that the talent would not be cold-conked by a flying beer bottle. Don Helms, his best-known steel guitarist, told the author that in some of the places that hired them, a prerequisite to playing was proving that one was armed, either with a billy club, bowie knife, shot gun, or even a broken bottle; the point was to show that no other protection was required and that the musicians could survive the night on their own.

Hank's first wife, Audrey, who badly wanted to be his singing partner but appears, by all accounts, to have been talent-free and tin of ear, figured out that the best way for Hank to make himself known was to write (meaning create; he could not read music). In this way he became a scion of rural culture. Before his death at the tender age of 29, he had written 50 songs, and 37 of them made the Billboard charts.

As a child of the sixties and seventies myself, I did not listen to traditional country music except when bumming a ride from my father. In reading Hemphill's biography of Williams, I was startled to find the origin of one of my dad's favorite sayings, "...good Lord willing and the creek don't rise." ("Creek" is pronounced "crick".) I was also surprised how many songs I knew that turned out to be composed by Williams.

Hemphill offers a readable narrative, enough details to make the reader feel like a fly on the wall, at least at times, in Williams' life, and he documents everything thoroughly without slowing the tale. It's hard to tell whether his comparisons and speculations at the end are intended to provide filler, or whether there really has raged a Hank versus Elvis debate to which I have never been privy. I also found his unflattering description of Hank, Jr. and Hank III a little abrasive.

When all is said and done, I would respond, history marches forward, whether it is political, cultural, military, technical, or musical history. Nobody sings like Hank now because it isn't the fifties, and cowboys are no longer in vogue. Hank's death didn't affect the style. I think if he had survived, he would either have had to adapt or seen his career wane.

My own musical tastes have tended more in other directions, and I never bought a Hank Williams collection, but I do own one by Hank, Jr. I got onto a popular computer thread and streamed some music by each of the three Hanks. The original Hank Williams is immortalized primarily as a song-writer, but also as the first American artist to add a yodeling type of element to his style, and of course for pioneering the use of the steel guitar in country music. Tee author classifies Hank III as a head-banging punk rocker, but when I watched a streamed performance, if anything Hank III appears to have really played up the rural working man's angle to the hilt. The original Hank spent a bundle on clothing for his performances; Hank III flaunts a battered felt hat and sings in a stylized drawl that at least to me, appears to be unmistakably country in flavor. But of course it is not the same; technology, tastes, and the world of entertainment have all changed, and nothing in this world, including the music world, will ever stand still.

The argument about whether or not Hank "could have survived Elvis" is specious. One might as well ask whether he could have survived the Beatles. They are different, and the music world has held a time and place for each. It isn't an exclusive category.

To sum up, it's a good biography. I was lucky to find it; apparently (and this sounds crazy), the UK published his life story before any credible source in the USA got around to it. Whether or not you read, or believe, the speculations that take up the last 10% or so of the book, it's worth your time and your money.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief but interesting career focused biography of Hank Williams. I enjoyed it, but if you are looking for more information on Hank's personal life and demons, check out I Saw the Light: The Story of Hank Williams.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In times gone by the early night sky gazers looked at the stars and thought they were distant camp fires, or souls of ancestors. Comets or hairy stars, on the other hand, were not so benign. Flashing, transcient, unpredictable and scary things.
Up in the skies of the planet Poptastic, even more so here in the 21st century, are beset copious twinkling heavenly bodies manufactured in a galaxy of mediocrity. Hank Williams was a blazing comet.
'Lovesick Blues' by Paul Hemphill, published 2005, documents the short life of the scrawny country boy from Alabama, who came and went decades before the live fast die young stars of later generations.
His musical contemporaries shone in the safe world of Sinatra, Como, Bennett and the good old boys of the country music scene were Tubbs, Ritter and the Carter Family. Hank shot across this sky, fuelled by his talent for writing songs that touched deep and driven on whisky and pills. He crashed into the sun after just six years in the heady firmament of hit records and Cadillac cars.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading Lovesick blues I had heard maybe one or two hank Williams songs and knew a little about him from Ken Burn's country music. But, that is about it.

I had no idea that he had such a problem with alcohol. I was surprised to learn that he married 2 times and also that he had an illegitimate daughter named Jett Williams who sang his songs.

Lovesick blues was an interesting read that talked about his childhood in Alabama where Hank shined shoes and sold sandwiches on the street, to hank performing on radio stations, the hayride, and on to the grand ole opre, all the way up to his death on new years day 1953.

I had no idea that Hank performed on the opre.

The most interesting parts of the book for me were the parts talking about hanks first wife Aubry and his second wife Billie jean jones.

For me Lovesick Blues was interesting and informative. I learned a lot about Hank WIlliams that I did not know before reading the book.

[Ken Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about the very talented (if one likes bluesy country) Hank Williams and his trials and tribulations during his short life. A lot of his songs that he wrote were indicative of his real life...a missing truck driver father that was kicked out of Hank's life because of Hank's domineering mother, his connection with his women and the domineering control they all exhibited over him, an alcoholic from the time of 11 or 12 years old. He lived his short life with a painful birth defect, a forlorn personna, drunk, yet was a talented poet that created songs and sang songs that have lived on forever in the art world of music.

[Phil Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a second reading of this fine book. Hemphill understands the life that Hank Williams led, being the son of a southern truck driver who also played the piano and sang. Our author even almost got to see him perform at the Grand Ole Opry (he cancelled that night), and it is this contemporaneous view that sets the book apart. A great companion piece to Colin Escott's thoroughgoing books on the great man.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good biography on the godfather of country music, Hank Williams.

Fun facts:

1. His wife Audrey insisted on singing with him and she was horrible, but Hank didn't have the kahones to let her know, so they would just turn her mike off.
2. He wrote "I Saw the Light" and honeymooned in Norfolk, Virginia, where I'm from. Why anybody would honeymoon in Norfolk is beyond me.
3. He died in the back seat of a powder blue Cadillac.

The number of classic songs he wrote is bewildering.

[Sam Motes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captures the meteoric rise of young Hiram to the metamorphosis into the mighty Hank and the just as fast crash through various vices of Hank to the tragic end. Hemphill does a great job of narrating the events and people that built the tragic life Hank lived that gave voice to the songs he gave the world. He truly lived through every broken heart and tear drop he sang about it seems.

[Chris Doelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about one of the true legends of music. Read my full review --> http://www.ridingwiththewindowdown.co...

[Jerry Wall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bio by a fan of Hank Williams, childhood to death in mid twenties going over getting into music
and becoming one of greatest on Grand old spry with first hit son Love Sick Blues on through
many hits in early 1950s.
For Dawsonville Library book group

[Mikey James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant book about Hank! I made sure I always had his music playing whilst reading it too and hearing about how some of his songs were written were really interesting. It's amazing to me that there was so much information about him before he was famous, too! Well worth a read if you're a fan.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short biography that hits the points of Williams life and career. Well written by Hemphill with very interesting interaction of his life and William's career.

[Darcie Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read because I love to know more about musicians. I was shocked by his hectic, sad life. It was an exciting book with so many interesting facts and stories.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad life, but gave us some great music. Well told tale. I had a hard time putting it down.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slim but entertaining account of Hank's life. I would've liked more on Hank's early history, particularly his boyhood.

[Vali Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest, illuminating and tragic. A heartbreaking portrait of the Hillbilly Shakespeare.

[Jerry Grillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best music biographies ever written. Clear, poetic prose, so much about this man's short life crammed into a relatively short, but lovely book.

[Adam Bricker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been a fan of Hank Williams for years, but not really knowing his history or just how difficult his life was, this book was an educational experience!

[Dkolacinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written 50 years after the death of Hank Williams, this is an excellent overview both personal and historical, of his life, death, influences and memories.

[Art the Turtle of Amazing Girth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look into the sad short life of one of the music world's big time heroes

He really was Lonesome

It made me sad for him, but also now I'm in the mood to listen to some Hank

[Larry Manch · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a great read about a legendary performer.

[Tom Stringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tragic tale well told

[Robert Gowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This basically the Cliffs Notes for the 2004 Hank Biography. Bizarrely similar

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not a full biography -- there's no index, no bibliography, no photos, and it's only 207 pages long -- but as a biographical sketch it gave me a good understanding of and feel for Hank Williams's short and tragic life, and a solid appreciation for his seminal place in American musical history. In a 5-year recording career, which ended with his death at age 29, Williams recorded 66 songs, most of which he wrote himself and 37 of which made the Billboard charts. Ten of his songs went to #1. He sold 10 million records, and in so doing dramatically expanded the popularity of country & western music.

The book focuses mainly on Williams's turbulent personal life, and also provides vivid glimpses of his rise to fame and interesting details of how the music industry operated in the middle of the 20th century (interesting fact: most record sales were to jukebox operators). A prologue and epilogue, written in the first person, tie the author emotionally to the subject by recalling the passion that he had, as a teenager growing up in Alabama, for Hank Williams's songs.

Williams wrote and recorded so many iconic songs ("Hey, Good Lookin'," "Jambalaya," "Move It On Over," "Cold, Cold Heart," "I Saw the Light," etc.), but this book provides only very limited insights into how these songs emerged. There are some interesting descriptions about the recording and production of many of the songs -- Williams benefited greatly from having a talented producer in Fred Rose -- but I would like to have learned more about his creative process. Unfortunately, the author gives very little attention to Williams's musical influences or to how his songs came into being (other than in a few cases tying the lyrics to events in Williams's life). I also didn't get any sense for the extent of Williams's musicianship, or even whether he played guitar on his own recordings.

Despite these shortcomings, I would recommend this book as a good quick overview of the life of an icon of 20th century American popular music.