The spirit of Hank Williams lives in Japan

This is a great video capturing both the sound, and spirit of Hank Williams.

This an eight minute medley by a Hank Williams tribute artist from Japan.

Enjoy.

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‘Moonrise Kingdom’ puts Hank Williams in a major movie release

Hank Williams has a part  in one of the big blockbuster summer movies of 2012.

Six Hank Williams songs are used in the soundtrack of ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ a Wes Anderson film opening across North America in the next 2 weeks. The film had the prestigious honor of being the opening film of the Cannes film festival.

Early reports indicate the film is setting box office records in its limited release so far. (May 30, 2012)

The soundtrack album features 3 Hank Williams songs:

Kawliga,
Long Gone Lonesome Blues
Ramblin Man.

But there are also 3 songs which aren’t on the soundtrack album but ARE in the movie:

Take These Chains from My Heart
Honky Tonkin
Cold Cold Heart.

From my reading about the film I should say that these songs are not played in their entirety at full volume as the movie is shown as is often the case on soundtracks. This Hank Williams film appearance may be  handled as it was on of that great American film ‘The Last Picture Show’.  As all Hank fans will recall, his dramatic appearances in that film came as a part of the film’s memorable realism. The voice of Hank Williams and other great 1950’s stars  flow naturally from car radios, kitchen radios, radio consoles, television sets and bar room jukeboxes as the movie’s dramatic scenes unfold.

Hank’s contribution to ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ could be  similar. I invite anyone who has been an early bird viewer to let us know in the comments below just how the Hank music is handled in this film.

Who will join Hank Williams on this movie appearance? Well there’s Francoise Hardy a mid 1960’s French pop singer, Benjamin Britten, Mozart, Alexandre Desplat, and Leonard Bernstein.

Millions of people will see this major summer movie release, millions have seen it already. And as those captive audiences are sitting absorbed in their theater seats, suddenly the haunting, piercing  yet intimate, harsh but yet rich and profound  voice of Hank Williams will reach out with all of its artistic power and capture a new generation.

As we all know, Hank Williams lived only 29 years and died January 1,1953. Here we are nearly 60 years later. Who can forget the haunting performance of ‘Alone and Forsaken’ by Neil Young on the Haiti Benefit a few years ago. There are line ups of contemporary singers coming forward to sing on the ‘Lost Notebooks’ album. The release of the stunning ‘Mother’s Best Recordings’ made entertainment news in media around the world.. The posthumous Pulitzer Prize, now a Wes Anderson film.

There were many big country stars, pop stars, movie stars even TV stars who made their mark along with Hank Williams in the last few years of he 1940’s. Few are ever seen  as active members of the arts or entertainment worlds here in the second decade of the next century. Hanks stands above them all as he will in centuries to come.

The trailer does  not include the Hank segments.

Here is information on the soundtrack album.

 

UPDATE

I hope someone who has seen the movie will write a comment below on how Hank is used in the movie and whether it has been a real boost to his reputation. Is it handled well and does he make an impact?

 

 

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Proof: Hank Williams iconic figure in western culture

Sometimes in this media world we live in with the onslaught of self important celebrities coming at us like armies over the hills, it can be a little thing which can reveal who is  really important. Can reveal an artist  from 60 years ago whose persona and his works have survived all the onslaughts of competition from both high and low culture to remain permantly in our artistic consciousness.

This is the kind of cultursl figure who a famous writer of today can use to make a little joke at someone else’s expense and we all get it. You don’t need to explain it; we all GET IT!

I guess there’s a bit of a scandal in  American politics  about a representative who sent some naughty pictures via texting and tweeting to some questionable  women  without his wife’s knowledge.

At the New York Times the most famous political and cultural columnist is a woman called Maureen Dowd.

This week Dowd  ran a column basically tearing a few strips off this politician and a few others like him who have been caught doing really stupid things involving relationships with women they should have avoided if they valued their marriages and their political careers.

Finally the point. You can check it out. New York Times, Op Ed section Wednesday June 8, 2011.

The title of the column:

“Your Tweetin’ Heart”, that’s right: “Your Tweetin’ Heart”.

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Hank’s Pulitzer: More brilliant commentary

It’s been a little slow to develop but the commentary on Hank Williams’ Pulitzer is bringing out some great writing about Hank in the media. I’m jealous of ability and the insights I’m seeing.

Here a comment from JP G at ‘Satire on the Rocks’, a blog.

If the Wisdom of the Ages had an actual voice, it would sound like Hank Williams’. Those things you know to be true but disregard for whatever reason? Your knowledge that life is short? The despair about your imminent demise? Hank Williams wrote the soundtrack to the Human Condition.

Very few Hank songs are about how it’s a great day to be alive. The closest he gets is something like “I Saw the Light,” with its refrain, “I saw the light/I saw the light/No more darkness, no more night/Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight/Praise the Lord, I saw the light.” Sure, he found God and now he’s happy, but there is mention made of sorrow, darkness, and night. He’s happy enough now, but there was a time…

The whole blog posting is brilliant. And there’s lots of references to Hank’s sad personal biography that we all know about, but JP G has to review because a lot of his readers may not know much about Hank. But unlike some I have mentioned in the past, this writer uses details of Hank’s life to make good points about his works.

Maybe I should retire and turn this into a news clipping service.

Here is the link to the article called ‘A singular voice now with a (posthumous) Pulitzer to prove it’.

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