Your Cheatin' Heart

Book excerpt: When Hank Williams died in 1953 at the age of twenty-nine, from a lethal combination of alcohol and the pain killers he had used for years to ease the chronic pain of a congenital defect in the spine, he was already a legend. The first musician to lift country music out of the backwoods and into the popular music charts, he became the most influential country music singer and song-writer of the century. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen have hailed him as a major influence, and his songs have been recorded by such diverse artists as Elvis Costello and The Carpenters. Chet Flippo's compelling biography is a fascinating tribute to a musician and his world, a history of country music encapsulated in one man's career.