The biography behind the major motion picture I Saw The Light starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen.
In his brief life, Hank Williams created one of the defining bodies of American music. Songs like Your Cheatin' Heart, Hey Good Lookin' and Jambalaya sold millions of records and became the model for virtually all country music that followed.
But by the time of his death at age twenty-nine, Williams had drunk and drugged and philandered his way through two messy marriages and out of his headline spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Even though he was country music's top seller, toward the end he was so famously unreliable that he was lucky to get a booking in a beer hall.
After his death, Williams' records sold more than ever, and have continued to do so in the half-century since. His oft-covered catalog has produced hits for artists ranging from Fats Domino and John Fogerty's Blue Ridge Rangers to Ray Charles and B.J. Thomas; from Bob Dylan and jazz diva Norah Jones, to crooner Perry Como, R&B star Dinah Washington, and British punk band, The The.
In this definitive account Colin Escott vividly details the singer's stunning rise and his spectacular decline, and reveals much that was previously unknown or hidden about the life of this country music legend.
Now, over sixty years after his death, a major motion picture starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen brings Hank Williams' tragic story to the screen. I Saw The Light first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be distributed by Sony Picture Classics.
An impressive book... Probably the definitive word on Hank Williams' life - Boston Globe
Our best look yet into Williams' pained, piercing eyes... Escott has peeled away the layers of legend - Philadelphia Enquirer
Deftly written and ably researched - Newsweek
Escott mixes careful reporting, a sympathetic viewpoint, and wry and occasionally cutting humour in a blend that makes for fast and interesting reading - Boston Globe