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FREE HANK WILLIAMS: THE BIOGRAPHY PDF Colin Escott | 374 pages | 01 Jul 2005 | BACK BAY BOOKS | 9780316734974 | English | Newport Beach, California, United States Hank Williams: The Biography - William MacEwen, Colin Escott, George Merritt - Google книги Goodreads helps you Hank Williams: The Biography track of books you want to read. Want to Hank Williams: The Biography saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Hank Williams by Colin Escott. George Merritt. William MacEwen. Gleason Hank Williams: The Biography Book Award. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published April 13th by Back Bay Books first published More Details Original Title. Other Editions 9. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Hank Williamsplease sign up. Lists with Hank Williams: The Biography Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Hank Williams: The Biography. Nov 20, Doug DePew rated it it was amazing. As a child, I listened to old 78s of Hank Williams that I carefully pulled out of my dad's old cedar chest. Later, I got my very own 8-track player and fell asleep listening to Hank every night. All I can say after reading Hank Williams: The Biography book is,"Wow. This is a very thorough look at Hank's short, sad life. Escott has included direct quotes from many of the people who knew Hank personally or were As a child, I listened to old 78s of Hank Williams that I carefully pulled out of my dad's old cedar chest. Escott has included direct quotes from many of the people who knew Hank personally or were associated with him and has put together what might be Hank Williams: The Biography most comprehensive picture of his life yet. I was particularly impressed with how well Hank's childhood and early life were covered. I had absolutely no idea prior to this book how far back his problems went. I was constantly doing math in my head as different incidents of Hank's drinking causing problems appeared to find dates that placed him in his mid-teens. His meteoric rise and abrupt fall are covered quite skillfully. It even includes his earnings Hank Williams: The Biography year. A peek into the psychology of who Hank Williams was as a person is granted through quotes from his friends and associates. Learning the sad details of his last few months was horrifying to me, but it's the truth. I appreciate the truth. We also get a summary of the extensive aftermath following Hank's sudden death and the outcome for the people involved including his children. I can't say I'm happy after finishing this book. I do feel like I know Hank Williams better than I did prior to reading it, though. This is the best Hank Williams biography I've read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in country music. View 2 comments. Mar 17, Jake rated it it was amazing. Ol' Hank liked to keep it simple, and so, too, does Colin Escott and his co-authors in this riveting biography. No other figure in country music, not even its self-proclaimed "father", Jimmie Rodgers, is the source of so much attention and myth. Hank Williams was only on the national country music scene for about three years before that legendary last ride on New Year's Eve "Vanilla, boys," Hank Williams would say to his band members if they ever tried to get too fancy in their performances. Hank Williams was only on the national country music scene for about three Hank Williams: The Biography before that legendary last ride on New Year's Eve but his Hank Williams: The Biography is broad and deep on the music and the culture. He describes the rise and fall of the star, as well as the aftermath of his death, without ever sensationalizing the material or shying away from the cold, hard facts. It's a fine literary line to walk, and Escott and company do it deftly. The narrative will be compelling even to someone with only a passing curiosity about Hank Williams and country music. The authors allow the reader to make up their own minds about the legendary singer and his short life, while also allowing the facts to subtly add hidden layers of loneliness, fear, loss, love, and pain between the verses of his songs that give them an even deeper resonance sixty-one years after his death. His music was, and still remains emotional, real, and affecting. This biography reinforces that art with honesty, integrity, and respect, and will haunt you long after you've put it down. Apr 09, Tedsandi Kinghorn rated it liked it. Not as interesting as I had hoped. Hank Williams: The Biography 26, anthony e. I'll say this for Hank Williams: he gives new meaning to the word 'alcoholism'. Anytime one of your friends, in that off-handed, vaguely joking way, comments that they drink too much, calmly inform them that until the begin to literally shred their body, dig under chairs like a dog, run down hotel hallways screaming of rescuing old women, and manage, in three years, to ruin his credibility, two marriages, his career, and his life. Escott's book is really quite marvelous in its account I'll say this for Hank Williams: he gives new meaning to the word 'alcoholism'. Escott's book is really quite marvelous in its account of Hank and his life- especially given his Hank's general reticence to Hank Williams: The Biography the truth, and country music's notorious tendency to embellish. Highly recommended. May 18, Stephen rated it really liked it Shelves: american-southmusicmontgomery. Hank Williams is the legend of country music. I'd heard of him long before I ever heard him; my father who stopped listening to country in the s took me to visit his grave in Montgomery back in the early nineties, and Williams was a constant Presence in the music I grew up on, haunting the singers of pieces like "Midnight in Montgomery" and "The Ride". Hank Williams: The Biography renders a thorough and sober account of Williams' life, one that appraises the man without romanticism. It is Hank Williams is the legend of country music. It is exhaustively detailed, utilizing interviews with those who remember the Hank Williams: The Biography Blues boy", and also features some commentary on Williams' musical craft. Part of the legend of Hank Williams' life is that he died young and tragically -- alone, in the back of his car, his heart destroyed by a mixture of alcohol and haphazardly-dosed medicine Easily the most surprising aspect of The Biography is that Williams' chronic alcoholism was not the result of his fame and fortune, but something he fought with for most of his life. From the time a thirteen year old Hank raided some loggers' booze hoard buried in the woods, the young singer would have bouts with the bottle. He did not drink constantly, Hank Williams: The Biography once he started on a bender he was hopeless for weeks. Time and again he submitted himself to sanatoriums, especially when he needed to focus on his career, but every time he would stumble. Although there was no shortage of excuses -- constant strife with his wives, the pressure of the road, the constant agony of spinal disease -- Williams' problems were only amplified by his success, not created by them. Williams was a genuine country boy, the son of poor strawberry farmers who lost everything they had in a fire, a man whose first memories were of living in a boxcar. The Williams moved from place to place in search Hank Williams: The Biography a Hank Williams: The Biography after his father was stuck in a VA hospital, the family got by selling peanuts and taking in boarders. That's where Williams got his start singing and sellingdown in a little town called Georgiana. Hank was a sickly boy, born with a spinal disease, and that diminished his ability to take part in the roughhousing and hard labor so common to southern men. He could sing, though, and after the family moved to Montgomery he began promoting school shows -- something that would Hank Williams: The Biography into a career. From schoolhouses to bars, Williams became a local star who grew into a southern icon -- and after his death, a national figure. His success was partially his own, from his ability to turn his constant troubles, particularly with his wife, into plaintive songs rendered in simple melody that resonated in the hearts of his country audiences. Although Williams would mature as a writer in his brief window of Hank Williams: The Biography, his re-use of old melodies Hank Williams: The Biography a sense of familarity. He also owed success to his domineering mom, however, who opened her home to his band and who personally sold tickets at early concerts. His wife Hank Williams: The Biography, though she tried to use him for her own ill-conceived musical career, was also a forceful personality who Hank Williams: The Biography his mother as a manager of sorts after they moved from Montgomery to Shreveport. Escott mentions that Williams Hank Williams: The Biography along at just the right time when radio was allowing hillbilly music to reach larger audiences, and become of interest to popular musicians: indeed, many of Hank Williams: The Biography songs were Hank Williams: The Biography by men on the national stage, like Tony Bennett.