Hank, Mark Ribowsky
Hank, Mark Ribowsky
1 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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Hank
The Short Life and Long Country Road of Hank Williams

Author: Mark Ribowsky

Narrator: Tom Perkins

Unabridged: 16 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/22/2016


Synopsis

After he died in the backseat of a Cadillac at the age of twenty-nine, Hank Williams?a frail, flawed man who had become country music's first real star?instantly morphed into its first tragic martyr. Having hit the heights with simple songs of despair, depression, and tainted love, he would, with that outlaw swagger, become in death a template for the rock generation to follow. Six decades later, Mark Ribowsky now weaves together the first fully realized biography of Hank Williams in a generation. Examining his music while also re-creating days and nights choked in booze and desperation, Ribowsky traces the miraculous rise of this music legend?from the dirt roads of rural Alabama to the now-immortal stage of the Grand Ole Opry, and finally to a sad, lonely end on New Year's Day, 1953. The result is an original work that promises to uncover the real Hank beneath the myths that have long enshrouded his legacy.

About Mark Ribowsky

Mark Ribowsky has authored over thirty-five acclaimed books about some of the most significant figures in popular culture, including Phil Spector, The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Lynyrd Skynyrd, James Taylor, Hank Williams, Little Richard, Isaac Hayes, Satchel Paige, Howard Cosell, Tom Landry, and Don Shula. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Playboy, People, and High Times. He lives in Boca Raton, Florida.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Douglas on February 20, 2017

Here is the latest (and possibly most complete) biography of Hank Williams. Watch this poor boy from south Alabama rise to conquer Nashville and influence both country and pop music. Read of the “no-holds-barred” episodes of Hank’s life from birth, as a teen-age singer, through his marriages, his ill......more

Goodreads review by Warrick on April 26, 2019

Sometimes you can know too much about your heroes. This book is a long, detailed, unrelenting unveiling of the sad and sordid life of Hank Williams. I would have liked more about the music and less about the drink, the affairs, the lies, the lawsuits. I still want to play the music, but it’s no than......more

Goodreads review by Bill on July 03, 2018

Before reading “Hank,” I listened to a CD from my collection, “Timeless,” a Hank Williams album of covers by Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Keb Mo, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, and others. I also played some of Hank’s original versions. Hiram Williams sounds wrong, but it was Hank’s birth name. His fa......more

Goodreads review by Edward on September 09, 2017

Not a fan of the author's penchant for folksy expressions but this is an informative, insightful, and complete warts-and-all portrait of the deeply troubled but remarkably successful and influential musician.......more

Goodreads review by Bobby on February 23, 2023

Pretty grim biography. Evidently his spina bifida was the cause of his alcoholism. His domineering mother was a corrosive element in his life.......more