Lost Highway: The Music of Hank Williams

I spent a great portion of this past weekend listening to the music of Hank Williams, most of which was on vinyl. His music is best listened to that way. There is something about the fidelity and rawness of the vinyl that adds to the experience. The light hiss and crackle of the record transports you to another time and place. That’s what I look for in music…to be taken away.

It was about six years ago when I first began to develop a real appreciation for Hank's music. His songs spoke to me with a raw honesty and vulnerability. His genre was mainly old country and western, accompanied by a touch of old southern gospel. The old country and western sound shares a close kinship to the blues, and Hank embodied that sound. Some of his songs are so haunting, introspective and dark it will take you to those depths and give you a keen insight to the landscape of his soul, and perhaps your own.

Even though Hank was a young man when he died at 29, in reality he was an old soul. He suffered most of his life with chronic back pain brought on by spina bifida. He lived a turbulent life marked with alcoholism and morphine addiction. As you listen to Hanks songs you see someone who is articulating his painful reality, but sincerely hopes for, and believes in, a brighter tomorrow. That is something I love and respect about him.

Whenever I’m downtown in Nashville I like to walk up 5th Ave, by the historic Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry, where Hank was a regular. I will peer down the ally way and in the eye of my mind I will see him standing around out back. A flask of whisky in his hand, a smile on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. I like to picture him happy, doing something he loved, sharing his passion with those in attendance.

On January 1, 1953 he and a hired driver left Knoxville, Tennessee in a Cadillac convertible, on his way to perform a New Years Day concert in Canton, Ohio. Reportedly, he had injected himself with some morphine and was carried semi-conscious to the car. It was somewhere in West Virginia when he was determined to have died.

Whenever I hear “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” I can’t help but picture him curled up in the backseat of that old Cadillac. A body wracked with pain, seeking the only relief he knew… I wonder when he breathed his last breath if angels welcomed him; perhaps they were even singing one of his songs.

Sometimes, I picture Hank in the afterlife dressed in a white suit and signature cowboy hat. Its beautiful there and everyone is nice and happy. Hank takes the stage and with a smile on his face sings one of his sad songs. It’s not sad anymore though. For the mirror that he used to only see in dimly, now shows his true radiant, shimmering self.

Below is a playlist of some of Hank Williams’ finest. Take some time to get acquainted.

Lovesick Blues
Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
I Saw The Light
(I Heard that) Lonesome Whistle
Your Cheatin’ Heart
Mind Your Own Business
Lost Highway
I Won’t Be Home No More
Wedding Bells
I’ll Have a New Body (I’ll Have A New Life)
There’s A Tear In My Beer
I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Hey Good Lookin’
I Can’t Get You Off My Mind