am always confused when it comes to Hank Williams, there are three of them with that same name, Sr, Jr, and the III, but this time we are talking about the grandfather, the iconic country music star who tragically died before 30, the author of classics like 'I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry', 'Cold Cold Heart,” and 'Hey Good Lookin’, who recorded numerous albums and no less than 35 singles that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country and Western Best Sellers chart.
A few years ago, Bob Dylan acquired Hank Williams’ notebook, which was, according to Paste magazine, ‘Essentially, the lyric sheets Hank died with in his briefcase’.
NPR and the Los Angeles Times have the whole story: Beside the lyrics left in this briefcase, Williams’ mother found even more of these notes in a box in the musician's room, then sent them to the publisher who kept them safe in a fireproof vault at his Nashville publishing company, Acuff-Rose Publications…. until producer Mary Martin got interested by these unfinished songs, and approached Dylan as well as other artists. This follows in the footsteps of Billy Bragg and Wilco finishing off Woody Guthrie songs on 1998's excellent Mermaid Avenue.
When not busy turning old black and white photographs into watercolors, Dylan has been working with a full-star cast (Jack White, Sheryl Crowe, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Merle Haggard and even his own son Jakob and Hank’s granddaughter Holly Williams) in order to complete these lyrics and turn them lyric to song.
Martin explained to NPR: ‘At that time, the idea was to have one particular brave singer-songwriter view the lyrics and choose 12, Bob Dylan held those lyrics for over a year and a half, and I do believe that it was too mighty a task. So he suggested that he would do one, and then we decided it should be a compilation record.’
A few artists, who shall remain nameless, declined the offer, which is understandable, since finishing and re-imagining an artist’s work has to be a daunting task.
‘Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams’ will be released on October 4th via Columbia, and will feature 12 tracks as well as the full story of Hank Williams’ notebook in the liner notes. The album ends with Merle Haggard’s version of ‘The Sermon on the Mount’, which made Martin say: ‘I knew the album had to end with that one. There's enough material left to do another album. We'll see how this one does.’
Here is ‘The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams’ tracklist:
01. Alan Jackson – You’ve Been Lonesome, Too
02. Bob Dylan – The Love That Faded
03. Norah Jones – How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?
04. Jack White – You Know That I Know
05. Lucinda Williams – I’m So Happy I Found You
06. Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell – I Hope You Shed a Million Tears
07. Patty Loveless – You’re Through Fooling Me
08. Levon Helm – You’ll Never Again Be Mine
09. Holly Williams – Blue Is My Heart
10. Jakob Dylan – Oh, Mama, Come Home
11. Sheryl Crow – Angel Mine
12. Merle Haggard – The Sermon on the Mount
And, to get a taste of the album, the LATimes has an exclusive video of Holly Williams performing acoustically ‘Blue Is My Heart’