Lovesick Blues

The short but dramatic life of Hank Williams, the beloved country singer with the distinctively mournful voice, offers sufficient material for an interesting biography--but this book is more. Also a product of the rural South, the author entwines his own life with that of Williams, and the result is worthwhile. Reader Jonathan Hogan invigorates Hemphill's descriptions of Alabama during the Depression, replete with coarse honky-tonks and the struggles of everyday Americans. Hogan mingles Williams's rocky road to fame with a sad recognition of his self-destructive drinking. Through Hogan's voice we experience Williams's ambition, and with wry and gentle sadness we anticipate his lonely death at age 29. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine