On New Year's Day 1953, Hank Williams--numbed by a deadly combination of whiskey and narcotics--died in the back seat of his Cadillac en route to a performance in Canton, Ohio. He was only twenty nine years old at the time of his death and his passing appeared to bring his rags-to-riches success and destructive lifestyle to an abrupt end. Few figures before or since have cast as long or as broad a shadow over American popular music. Today, Hank Williams is considered by many to be the greatest singer and songwriter in the history of country music, and it is the combination of his remarkable musical achievements, his tumultuous personal life, and his tragic and still-mysterious demise that make him such a compelling historical figure. As volume demonstrates, Williams's death was the beginning of an equally gripping second act: for more than sixty years, an ever-lengthening parade of journalists, family and friends, musical contemporaries, biographers, historians and scholars, fans, and novelists have attempted to capture in words the man, the artist, and the legend. The Hank Williams Reader, the first book of its kind devoted to this giant of American music, collects more than sixty of the most compelling, insightful, and historically significant of these writings. The selections cover a broad assortment of themes and perspectives, ranging from heartfelt reminiscences and shocking tabloid exposés to thoughtful meditations and critical essays. Featured authors include Hank Williams, Jr., Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, David Halberstam, Greil Marcus, Rick Bragg, and Lee Smith, to name but a few. The Hank Williams Reader also features a lengthy interpretive introduction and the most extensive bibliography of Williams-related writings ever published. Over time, writers have sought to explain Williams in a variety of ways, and in tracing these shifting interpretations, this anthology chronicles his cultural transfiguration from star-crossed hillbilly singer to enduring American icon.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ; A Note about Editorial Policies ; PART I. "King of the Hillbillies": Chronicling Hank Williams During His Lifetime (1946-1953) ; 1. "Hank Williams Rides on Down Trail of National Popularity on Air Records" William E. Cleghorn ; 2. "Pulpit Echoes" Rev. A. S. Turnipseed ; 3. "'Cause Hank Is Moving In, Move It Over, Big Time" Allen Rankin ; 4. "Got 'Lovesick Blues'? No Sir, Not Hank Williams" Gene L. Roe ; 5. "Gold in Them Hillbillies" Unidentified newspaper ; 6. "Golden Oatunes: H. Williams Clefs 22 Hillbilly Toppers" Billboard ; 7. "Hank Has a Method: Williams Tells How and Why His Disks Click" Billboard ; 8. "Country Music Goes to Town" Rufus Jarman ; 9. Excerpts from Divorce Complaint and Defendant's Answer and Cross-Bill in Audrey Mae Williams vs. Hank Williams, Et Al. Audrey and Hank Williams ; 10. "Hank Williams Hillbilly Show Is Different" Edith Lindeman ; 11. "Famous Song Composer is Arrested Here" Shreveport Times ; PART II. "Hank, It Will Never Be the Same without You": Mourning the Death of Hank Williams (January-February, 1953) ; 12. "Mystery Shrouds Death of Singer Hank Williams" Knoxville Journal ; 13. "Hank Williams Had Premonition of Death" H. B. Teeter ; 14. "Hank's Funeral is Far Largest in All Montgomery's History" Joe Azbell ; 15. Selected Newspaper Editorials Various newspapers ; 16. "So Long, Hank. Hear You Later" Allen Rankin ; 17. Selected Letters to the Editor Various newspapers ; 18. "Frank Walker's Letter to Hank Williams" Cash Box ; PART III. "Hank Williams Won't Die": The Legend Emerges (1953-1964) ; 19. "Hank's First Wife Tells Up and Downs of Marriage" Audrey Williams, as told to the Montgomery Advertiser ; 20. Excerpt from Our Hank Williams, "The Drifting Cowboy," as Told by His Mother to Allen Rankin Mrs. W. W. Stone, with Allen Rankin ; 21. "Was Singer a Suicide?" Oklahoma City Times ; 22. "The Death of Hank Williams" Eli Waldron ; 23. "The Strange Life and Death of Hank Williams" Sanford Mabrie ; 24. "The Short Life of Hank Williams" Ed Linn ; 25. Three "Hank's Corner" Columns Irene Williams Smith ; 26. Liner Notes to Hank Williams' Greatest Hits Charlie Lamb ; 27. Excerpt from the Screenplay for Your Cheatin' Heart Stanford Whitmore ; PART IV. Bringing the Legend to Life: The Search for the "Real" Hank Williams (1965-1974) ; 28. Excerpt from Country Music, U.S.A.: A Fifty-Year History Bill. C. Malone ; 29. "No Direction Signs Exist: Tourists Grope Their Way to Reach Williams' Grave" Joe Azbell ; 30. "Hank Williams, Roy Acuff and Then God!!" Ralph J. Gleason ; 31. Excerpt from Sing a Sad Song: The Life of Hank Williams Roger M. Williams ; 32. "Hank Williams Remembered" David Halberstam ; 33. "My Treasured Life with a Beloved Brother" Irene Williams Smith ; 34. Excerpt from Beneath the Applause (A Story about Country & Western Music and Its Stars-Written by a Fan) Harry E. Rockwell ; 35. Excerpt from The Great American Popular Singers Henry Pleasants ; PART V. Scenes from the Lost Highway: Shedding Light on the Dark Side (1975-1984) ; 36. Excerpt from Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music Greil Marcus ; 37. "Fear and Loathing at Hank's Funeral" Billie Jean Horton ; 38. Excerpt from The Outlaws: Revolution in Country Music Michael Bane ; 39. Excerpt from I Saw the Light: The Gospel Life of Hank Williams Al Bock ; 40. Excerpt from Living Proof: An Autobiography Hank Williams, Jr., with Michael Bane ; Excerpt from Minnie Pearl: An Autobiography Minnie Pearl, with Joan Dew ; 41. Excerpt from Your Cheatin' Heart: A Biography of Hank Williams Chet Flippo ; 42. Excerpt from The Best of Country Music John Morthland ; PART VI. "Gone But Not Forgotten Blues": Entering the American Mainstream (1985-1994) ; 43. "'Pictures from Life's Other Side': Hank Williams, Country Music, and American Popular Culture" Kent Blaser ; 44. "'Everybody's Lonesome for Somebody': Age, the Body and Experience in the Music of Hank Williams" Richard Leppert and George Lipsitz ; 45. Excerpt from Ain't Nothing as Sweet as My Baby: The Story of Hank Williams' Lost Daughter Jett Williams, with Pamela Thomas ; 46. "The Day Hank Williams Died: Cultural Collisions in Country Music" Nolan Porterfield ; 47. "Sex, Drugs, and Country Music: A Profile of Hank Williams, America's Darkest Legend" Douglas McPherson ; 48. Review of Don Cusic, Hank Williams: The Complete Lyrics Lee Smith ; 49. Excerpt from Hank Williams: The Biography Colin Escott, with George Merritt and William MacEwen ; PART VII. Our Hank Williams: Becoming an American Icon (1995-2011) ; 50. "Sing Me a Song about Ramblin' Man: Visions and Revisions of Hank Williams in Country Music" Christopher Metress ; 51. "Hank Williams Sr. Is Alive!" Teddy Gerald ; 52. Excerpt from Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip John Gilmore ; 53. "Howling at the Moon: The Queer But True Story of My Life as a Hank Williams Song" Craig Womack ; 54. Two Reviews of The Complete Hank Williams Sarah Vowell and Brian Alcorn ; 55. Excerpt from Lookin' Back on Hank: Some Things You Never Knew About the Legendary Hank Williams Joe "Penny" Pennington ; 56. Foreword to Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway Rick Bragg ; 57. "Retracing a Ghostly Night Ride" Peter Cooper ; 58. Excerpt from The Haunted Hillbilly Derek McCormack ; 59. "Hank Williams" Mark Jacobson ; 60. Excerpt from Chronicles, Volume One Bob Dylan ; 61. "Imagining Tee-Tot: Blues, Race, and the Legend of Hank Williams" John R. George ; 62. Excerpt from I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive Steve Earle ; Epilogue ; Acknowledgements ; Selected Bibliography