A short life of the author
Hiram King Williams (1923–1953), known as Hank Williams, was born in Mount Olive, Alabama, and learned guitar from Rufus Payne, a Black street musician in Georgiana. By his mid-twenties he was the biggest star in country music, performing on the Grand Ole Opry and recording a string of singles — “Lovesick Blues,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Jambalaya,” “Cold, Cold Heart” — that remain central to the American songbook. He died in the back seat of his Cadillac on New Year’s Day 1953, at twenty-nine, of heart failure exacerbated by alcoholism and drug dependency.
Books by and about Williams
Williams did not write books, but his lyrics have been collected and published, and he is the subject of a substantial biographical literature:
- Colin Escott with George Merritt and William MacEwen, Hank Williams: The Biography (1994, Little, Brown) — the definitive biography, based on extensive interviews and archival research.
- Paul Hemphill, Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams (2005, Viking) — a narrative biography emphasising the cultural context of postwar Alabama.
Collecting Williams
First editions of Escott’s Hank Williams: The Biography (1994, Little, Brown) bring $30–$80. The primary Williams collecting market is in music ephemera — original 78 rpm records on the MGM label, concert posters, and promotional photographs. Autographed material is extremely rare and valuable given his early death.