While researching the last days of Hank Williams, Brian Turpen has run down many leads and collected several stories having to do with Hank’s life. Turpen, a policeman by day, became interested in Hank’s life after reading Colin Escott’s seminal Hank biography (Turpen even appeared in Escott’s Honky-Tonk Blues documentary). His interest and his experience in police work lead Turpen to delve deep into the last days of Hank. In the midst of that research Turpen also wrote occasional articles on various aspects of Hanks’ life for fan newsletters.
The subtitle of the book is “Short Stories from the Life of Hank Williams,” and Turpen has brought together information on nearly aspect of Hank’s life. Turpen has put many years of research into stories on things like Hank’s birth certificate (it was filed ten and a half years after Hank’s birth), several of the places Hank played, his radio days, his songwriting and his love of baseball.
One of the best stories is the detailed recounting of the 1949 Grand Ole Opry tour of Europe. The tour required the permission and the cooperation of many government officials and the artists, which included Red Foley, Little Jimmy Dickens, Minnie Pearl and other, played for our troops who were still stationed throughout the continent.
If you are a fan of Hank Williams or of country music history you will enjoy this book and the perspective it lends to the life of one of the greatest songwriters in music history.

No related posts.