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Audio Book Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams with FREE PDF EDITION Download Now!
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.
At this time of writing, The Mobi Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams has garnered 8 customer reviews with rating of 5 out of 5 stars. Not a bad score at all as if you round it off, it’s actually a perfect TEN already. From the looks of that rating, we can say the Mobi is Good TO READ!
Audio Book Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams with FREE PDF EDITION!
I probably ought to wait until I have finished this book to write about it, but I can always come back and change it, or add to it, if I feel the need to in the future.But I just wanted to say how enjoyable it is to read all about Hank, and the very comfortable way the author writes about him, and how I'm learning so much I didn't know - which is everything, because this is the first book about Hank that I have ever looked into.He definitely drew the losing cards, or a handful of jokers, in the round of life.Being born in 1923 meant that his teenage years, when he was becoming aware of what life was all about, all occurred during the Great Depression.The Depression years were a bad time for everybody - most especially poor Southerners, who didn't have any education or money, and not much likelihood of coming up with either, any time soon.But Hank was dealt a double-whammy, with the spina bifida that he was born with, which nobody at the time knew much about. He was never diagnosed, as a child, with that problem, and I'm not sure they even knew what to do about it. This caused him to live his entire life with severe back pain, which never went away.There is little doubt that this was one reason he tried to escape through alcohol, although it has since been learned that alcoholism is an inborn problem, with those who have it, and they really don't have much choice in the matter. Evidently, once they take that first drink, they're hooked for life.But the way his life unfolded, there is no question that he was also born with a genius for writing, and performing, his music. He seemed to be compelled to make music, from the first note he ever heard. Music was just in his genes, because once he got started, he pretty much overwhelmed the whole country music scene with his songs - and his singing just entranced the people, like a Pied Piper. He had a magical quality about his voice which was simply compelling.So far, and I've only read about a fourth of the way through, his story is a lot like Elvis Presley's, in that he pretty much just "took over" country music, in much the same way other artists have talked about when Elvis came along. I mean, you had your country singers, and then there was Hank. Just like Elvis blew away not only country, but also pop singers in general.In both cases, with Hank as well as with Elvis, they weren't just another country artist. Each one was unique, in the sense that they stood out so spectacularly from all the competition, there was simply no comparison.Although they were both alive at the same time, Hank was about 12 years older than Elvis. Elvis was about 17 when Hank died.Elvis didn't appear on the music scene until the mid-fifties, so he and Hank were never competitors. In fact, Hank had already been in his grave for about three years before Elvis first appeared on the national scene, in Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's "Stage Show." And Elvis wasn't really country, although his first few hits were.Elvis was an anomaly: He was country when he first started out, but then sort of morphed into rockabilly, with Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes," and "Baby Let's Play House," and then more or less into straight-up rock and roll. And, of course, love ballads.And that was only because of his incredible voice. He had a one-in-a-million voice, at least.You could say that he stayed the way he was all throughout his life, but he was different from Hank. Hank was definitely country, in spades, and never pretended to be anything else.Elvis more or less engineered the rock and roll phenomenon - with a lot of help from many others, like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and, of course, the original Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis.Elvis was probably at the top of the list, without question - especially among the white performers. (But Jerry Lee certainly gave him a run for his money.)The funny part is that after Jerry Lee went over to England, and they discovered that his wife was his 13-year-old cousin, they ran him out in disgrace, and pretty much drove him out of rock-and-roll music.Only to see him bounce back years later, and come very close to being as great in country music as the master himself - Hank Williams.That's only in performing, of course. I'm not sure if Jerry Lee actually wrote much, if any at all, country music, but one of Hank's songs, "You Win Again," was as big when Jerry Lee recorded it as anything ever done in country.Personally, as far as I'm concerned, Jerry Lee's "Another Place, Another Time" ranks right up there as one of the best country anthems ever.Of course, they were two completely different performers, but they both filled a niche that would have been glaringly vacant without them.But Hank really didn't have any competition, back in his heyday. For sure, the other big names in country music, such as Lefty Frizzell and Hank Snow, were big, without a doubt, but Hank just steamrolled them with the sheer volume of his output, not only in the songs he put on the charts himself, but the incredible amount of music he wrote that so many other artists also covered.Other stars might have a hit once or twice a year, but Hank would have a flurry of them, all going at the same time.And, given their druthers, most other artists, including any of the big names in Hank's era, would want to run away and hide if they were scheduled to follow him at the Opry, or any other public venue.Once he got up on the stage and started singing, the crowds wouldn't let him off - calling him back over and over for one encore after another.Elvis was marvelous, but what can you say about Hank? He just mesmerized the crowd, with almost a magical spell.Elvis will always be considered the King of Rock-And-Roll, but there can't be any doubt that Hank was the all-time King of Country.I don't imagine we'll ever see the likes of him again, especially with the background he had: Dirt poor, ill-educated, physically almost crippled, and cursed with alcoholism from the start.But brilliant. He was truly a musical genius, with his fingers on the pulse of the common man. Almost everything he wrote rang a bell with everyone who heard it.He not only wrote incredibly original, descriptive songs, but his delivery was phenomenal. His voice was just captivating, and completely unlike any other Country artist. To say he was an original is to tell the whole story of Hank Williams in a single word.And his imagination! Who but a genius could make up a novelty song about a cigar-store wooden Indian, and turn it into a classic?So many amazing people emerged during the years of the Great Depression. It just goes to show that the times, no matter how bad, can't keep truly outstanding talent from prevailing, which is a tremendous tribute to the human spirit.Hank got captured, early on, by a woman who was a holy terror, but it seems like she actually was the spark that lit his creativity, in that when things were going well, he dried up and couldn't come up with anything to write songs about.Or at least, what he did write was pretty lame, compared to what she drew out of him when they were at each other's throats, so to speak.I'm looking forward to finishing the book, because I've really only gotten through the very early part of his life, and there is so much more to come.Stay tuned.3/20/19Well, now: Having finished the book, my first thought is that Paul Hemphill was a marvelous writer. He absolutely held my interest to the very last word.And Hank turned out to be awesomely prolific, right up to almost his last days - which shouldn't be so surprising, because he was, after all, only 29, and in the very thickest of times, regarding his expected length of productivity.One thing that sort of surprised me was to learn that he became somewhat arrogant, as he reached the full realization of his status as a heavyweight (figuratively speaking) in his ability to write songs, but you could almost chalk that up to a little "up yours," as a response to the world, which had treated him so relentlessly shabby, up until his incredible success.It's almost as if, as fabulously successful as he became, it seemed that nobody wanted to acknowledge it, as if he somehow didn't deserve it, being skinny, and back-woodsy, and Southern, and all. He was not only country, but extremely so, and made no apology about It.The one thing that made everybody a believer was simply the public's reaction to his music, whether it was in a personal performance or on a record.Then, when it became obvious that his genius couldn't be denied, I'm sure Hank took great pleasure in allowing his head to swell, just a little bit.The worst part was that the people who should have had his back all seemed to be in cahoots against him - speaking of his mother, and his wife - their main concern being how much money they could make off of him.But I suspect that the man achieved victory in his own mind, because music was almost the only thing that mattered to him, and he certainly lived to see his music succeed, maybe even beyond his own expectations.I mean, he churned it out, because he had to - he was driven to - but who could know that his creation, and practically all of his efforts, would be so wildly received, and lovingly embraced, by virtually the entire country?All he could do was put it out there, and wait to see how, or if, it was accepted.But he didn't have to wait long; his music was overwhelmingly revered, by almost everybody who ever heard it.And this from a man who never learned to read or write music!The long and the short of it is that Hank Williams was a phenomenal entertainer, who wrote his own songs, and his music was so different from anything else, and his talent so overwhelming, it was simply an unbelievable experience to observe.His incredible drive was complicated by his relentless alcohol addiction, which gave him no peace - and further complicated by the two women who were closest to him seeing in him the opportunity to exploit his talent for their own benefit.There have been many artists, in all genres of music, but extremely few of them have been lauded for not only being the creator of the song, but the performer as well, and to have sold millions of his own personal recordings, but also to have been the source of tremendous success for others who have performed the products of his fertile mind, in the amazing songs he wrote.One last thought about Hank Williams: He had to have incredible stamina, and especially as short-changed in the strength department as he was.He may have realized that his life would be short, because he seemed to be almost on a tear, to squeeze in as much in the way of touring performances as possible in his last couple of years. As you read through the schedule he undertook, it seemed to be almost humanly impossible, even for someone in robust health.He did receive royalty clauses in his contracts, but not early on, in his first recordings. Hemphill doesn't explain how he found out about it, or what he had to do to get it included, but even after he did, royalties take a long time to build up, to be substantial enough to sustain the artist all by themselves.And, royalties only exist if a record is sold, and the only way it sells is when it is heard, which means if it is performed, which means public appearances.Then, it becomes almost a living thing, as records are played on the radio, stimulating more sales.But the big paydays were a long way off - at some date far in the future, as the royalties began to kick in.Meanwhile, he had to make a living, and so did his musicians, and so personal performances were the name of the game, and was the only way to make any serious money, at first.But that meant showing up, which meant getting to where the show was to be held.Which might be a few hundred miles away, which means hours behind the wheel, on a lonely two-lane highway, without air-conditioning, to get somewhere to perform for two or three hours, and then jump back in the car and do it all over again.And by the way, that's "car," and not "air-conditioned, luxury touring bus."He got used to demanding cash, too, after being short-changed a few times, by promoters who's checks bounced.Can you imagine? After all the grief of getting to a performance, and then putting on the show, to be stiffed by a crooked promoter, when you need that money for mundane things, like gas to get to the next stop, and food, and maybe a motel room for a few hours' sleep?Things might not actually be much different today, but during the Depression years, the entire populace was so lean and hungry that just the scent of money, and the thought that there might be a way to latch on to some, especially if you sensed that someone had a lot, and you could weasel them out of part of it, was probably hard to resist.Plus, what records they sold were mostly what they carried with them, to offer at gigs, or what were sold through record shops. It all added up, but it's not the same slick distribution system that the artists enjoy today.Just keeping to the schedule that he had laid out for himself would have killed most ordinary men.In fact, it probably killed Hank, too. That - plus, there was another person, a "doctor," who had attached himself to Hank, who had a fake degree and a criminal history, who prescribed drugs for Hank that no doubt led to, or directly caused his death.In the shape he was in, you just know that he would have leaped at anything that he thought might alleviate his pain, and this "doctor" definitely told him what he wanted to hear.And, there were a couple of things that were discovered in the autopsy that were never explained, such as a bruise on his head, and around his groin - signs that he had been severely beaten, not long before his death.Anyway - Hank's gone now, and so nobody can take advantage of him anymore.But we can take advantage of the opportunity to listen to his glorious music, and for a few bucks, pick up a CD of everything he ever recorded, and just sit and soak it all in, smiling all the while.
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