I’ve discovered two new artists
this week – Lera Lynn and Band of Heathens.
Lera Lynn is the woman who is
singing mournful tunes in that dingy bar featured in True Detective’s second
season. Band of Heathens is a bunch of indie/southern rock/blues/folk guys that
write their own stuff and sing it well. Youtube them both and see if – like me –
you plan to add them to your collection soon.
But now an artist that has been in
everyone’s collect – one way or another – for decades.
Disc 773 is….The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
Artist: Various
artists
Year of Release: 2011
What’s up with the Cover? An old wooden wall with Hank’s
image on it, although you can barely see it through all the text. Around the
edge you can see all the contributing artists, which is a nice touch.
How I Came To Know It: I saw this advertised in a music
magazine I got as a Christmas gift from Sheila. She obviously saw it as well
because when my birthday rolled around she bought me the album.
How It Stacks Up: This is a compilation album, so
it doesn’t have anything to stack up against. The question is moot!
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
As my wife Sheila perceptively pointed out, “The
Lost Notebooks” is “Mermaid Avenue” for Hank Williams, a living breathing
treasure that is both the glory of the original artist and also the inspiration
he generated in each contributor to the record.
The music comes from a satchel Williams would carry
around full of all his old songs that was still with him when he died. Sixty years
later, it is like uncovering a vault of forgotten treasure.
Like “Mermaid Avenue” and its recovered Woodie
Guthrie songs, “The Lost Notebook” is a selection of Hank Williams songs he had
written at the time of his death, but had not recorded nor set to music. Unlike
“Mermaid Avenue” the honour doesn’t go to one or two artists to finish the work.
Instead twelve different artists take a turn.
This might make the songs disjointed but instead they
feel tightly connected, and not just through the lyrics which are classic Hank
topics of heartbreak and loneliness. All the artists that contribute a finished
song have captured the essence of Hank.
This gave me an even deeper appreciation for just
how influential Hank has been on modern music. Every artist sounds like
themselves, but in so doing they also show how their music is founded in the musical
discoveries Hank made back in the forties and fifties.
The album opens with Alan Jackson singing “You’ve Been Lonesome Too” and both in
arrangement and style, this song is a carbon copy of Hank Williams. Jackson sings
so like Hank it feels like he’s been reborn. Usually I would complain that the ‘remake’
doesn’t do enough with the original song, but this song is original to me.
Besides, it is so perfectly done I don’t mind the copycat job.
Other artists take greater liberties, but they never
stray far from the lilting tone and tear-stained guitar that makes a Hank Williams
song authentic. For some artists, like Jackson, Rodney Crowell or Patty
Loveless, the influence was obvious from their own work. For others, like Jack
White and Sheryl Crow, hearing them breathe life into Hank’s ghost made me
appreciate just how much he was already living inside them.
The old guys featured on the record were some of my
least favourites. Bob Dylan and Levon Helm sound old and tired, and Merle
Haggard’s song sounds a bit too…Haggard. Surprisingly, Bob’s son Jakob’s
offering is better than both of them, and it isn’t even one of my favourites. By
the way don’t expect to ever hear that Jakob Dylan outdid his dad on a project again.
This is definitely the only time that will ever happen.
Jack White wins for getting the song with the best lyrics
with “You Know That I Know.” This is
a song about a man who knows the dirty and low-down secrets of a girl and is
warning her not to put on airs now that they’ve moved to town:
“Now you know that I know that
you ain't no good
And you wouldn't tell the truth
even if you could
Lying is a habit you practice
where ever you go
Well you may fool the rest of
this world
But you know that I know”
And my favourite part of down-home snark comes later
with:
“To some folks you may be Mrs. So-and-So
But don't turn your nose up at
me,
You know that I know”
Another favourite is Norah Jones singing “How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart?”
which is an amazing combination of a Hank Williams’ inspired melody and the
smooth tone of Jones’ voice. It is touched around the edges with just the right
amount of Mexican guitar to balance Jones’ smokey tones.
Like Alan Jackson, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell perfectly
capture another side of Hank as his storytelling ‘Luke the Drifter’ character. I
don’t really like Hank as Luke the Drifter so this particular song didn’t work
for me as well as Jackson’s.
This album is worth your time if you are a Hank
completionist or even if you just want another reminder of how deep and wide his
influence has been on music. Not every song is great, but most are at least
worth your time and all of them will have you hearing Hank’s ghost in every
song for days after.
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