Synopses & Reviews
Hank Williams became the most influential country music singer and songwriter of the 20th century, with heartfelt songs like "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Cold Cold Heart," and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," that have such undeniable emotional appeal that they transcend time, place, and audience. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen have hailed him as a major influence, and his songs have been recorded by such diverse artists as Elvis Costello, The Carpenters, and The Cowboy Junkies. But few knew that Williams was privately suffering most of what he sang about so convincingly. Raised in Alabama in the most abject poverty, with an absentee father, a dominating mother, and an equally domineering first wife, he also had a crippling defect of the lower spine which was never treated and which eventually drove him to drugs and alcohol. Chet Flippo's compelling biography is a fascinating tribute to a musician and his world; a history of country music encapsulated in one man's career.
About the Author
Legendary rock critic
Chet Flippo will be remembered as 'a fierce advocate of country music, long before country music was cool'. Famed for his no-holds-barred attitude to music journalism, he was one of the earliest editors of
Rolling Stone. In the span of his distinguished four-decade-long career, his work appeared in
Rolling Stone, the
New York Times,
Gallery,
New York,
Texas Monthly and many other publications besides. He was the author of an array of bestselling books, including
Graceland: The Living Legacy of Elvis Presley,
Yesterday: The Biography of a Beatle,
David Bowie's Serious Moonlight: The World Tour Book with Denis O'Regan, and
Gone Country: Portraits of Country Music's New Stars with Raeanne Rubenstein. He served as editorial director of Country Music Television and CMT.com until his death in 2013.