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Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues

Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues - Arena

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Morgan Neville

Arena: Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues

05/02/2005

BBC Four - Arena, Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues

Documentary about legendary country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams.

Documentary about legendary country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams, who lived fast, died young and left an enduring legacy. Features interviews with friends and family.

Hank Williams was the greatest singer-songwriter country music has ever known. He died on a journey half-way across America to a gig he would never make, at the age of just 29. 

More than fifty years after his death, Williams ranks among the most powerfully iconic figures in American music. He set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft and sang his songs with such believability that we feel privy to his world, despite the fact that he left no in-depth interviews and just a few letters. His brief life and tragic death have only compounded his appeal. 

With his seductive musings on love and ruin, Williams didn't just embody the honky tonk ethos, he practically invented it. Dirt-poor and rail-thin, he blazed out of Alabama in the late 1940s with the go-for-broke fervour of a man whose days were numbered. The emotional clarity of his voice spoke to millions, and by the age of 25 he was country music's first superstar. Four years later, overtaken by his own heart, he was gone - an icon to the world and an enigma to those who thought they knew him best. With the help of his family and closest friends, this film sets out to find the real Hank Williams.

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