Hank Williams Awarded Posthumous Pulitzer Prize!
“New York City, April 12 The Pulitzer Prize Board has awarded a posthumous Special Citation to country music icon Hank Williams for his lifetime achievement as a musician, Columbia University announced today.
The citation praises Williams for “his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.”The Board, chaired by Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of the Miami Herald, made the award after a confidential survey of experts in popular music.
“The citation, above all, recognizes the lasting impact of Williams as a creative force that influenced a wide range of other musicians and performers,” said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. “At the same time, the award highlights the Board’s desire to broaden its Music Prize and recognize the full range of musical excellence that might not have been considered in the past.”
In recent years, the Board has awarded several other Special Citations in music: To jazz composers Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane in 2006 and 2007 and to composer and singer Bob Dylan in 2008. Williams, who died in 1953 at age 29, was noted for writing and singing songs that reflected the hopes and struggles of everyday Americans, and his compositional skill and fusion of genres, experts say, became the measure by which country music is judged. Among his most famous songs are the standards “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Cold Cold Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Jambalaya.”
This is all from the official Columbia University press release that you can read by clicking here.
Is this big for Reinstate Hank? You better believe it.
April 12, 2010 @ 5:45 pm
JUST ONE MORE HUMONGUS STRAW ON THAT SWAY BACK MULE THEY CALL THE GRAND OLE OPRY!!!
April 12, 2010 @ 6:00 pm
That’s a great honor for Hank Williams, and yep, it makes the Opry look that much more out of touch and even stupid as every other organization on the planet lines up to recognize his influence.
April 12, 2010 @ 6:10 pm
best news around town for sure…
April 12, 2010 @ 6:11 pm
YEAH BOY !!! EAT THAT (not so grand any more slopery) this is fuckin’ great news man…
April 12, 2010 @ 6:18 pm
great news. wake the f— up opry!! you seem to be missing something.
April 12, 2010 @ 7:23 pm
all hail the king of music!
April 12, 2010 @ 7:54 pm
Of course Im going to add something about the selfish, greedy, thievin, money hungry, so called “graaaaannd” ol’ opry. Do I really need to say anymore. It’s too bad that some folks dont look beyond the end of their nose.
April 12, 2010 @ 10:25 pm
The man’s importance is immeasurable and keeps growing. The fact that he was a great person makes his accolades just more icing on the cake. Hank Williams is one of the best things to ever happen to us. More ppl should know that.
April 13, 2010 @ 1:15 am
I’m happy that they did that and it’s gonna make the Grand Ole Opry look even more like shit but they still haven’t reinstated hank and i tell ya that’s fuckin’ bullshit!
April 13, 2010 @ 7:01 am
At least the board for the Pulitzer can recognize Hank for his lifetime achievements. How in the hell the opry can’t give credit where credits due, is beyond me. But hey, at least REAL people for REAL music stand with each other to support Hank Williams and his legacy. Who in the hell needs the opry anyways? It’s just a corporate pecker suckin fashion show out there! LONG LIVE HIRAM HANK!!!
April 13, 2010 @ 11:31 am
Well I suppose the Grand Ole Opry’s stance that they don’t recognize the talent of their deceased members, or uh, WON’T reinstate a member who has passed, but a Nobel Prize Citation will and does show the God given talent that Hank Williams contributed to the world of country music AND into the pockets of the Grand Ole Opry. The Opry has no more stupid alibi’s left not to reinstate the man they kicked to the curb but still want to make money off of . . .Congratulations to the Williams family for the honor. Every one knows how important Hank Williams music is.
April 13, 2010 @ 11:43 am
Oh sorry, my mistake, I mean a Pulitzer Prize, not Nobel Peace, but the message is still the same. Kudos to Columbia University.
April 13, 2010 @ 11:49 am
I’d rather he got a Pulitzer than a Nobel myself. A Nobel might be considered Noble by some, but that organization is about as tarnished as the Opry at this point in my opinion.
April 13, 2010 @ 12:03 pm
That’s Great News! I’ll read the article at once.
This must be positive for the Reinstate Hank Movement as well.
April 13, 2010 @ 12:41 pm
Right on! Well deserved to be sure!
April 16, 2010 @ 11:16 am
Hank Williams created some of the best music ever heard. It has been an influence in every genre of modern music.
He was a truely great artist whose music is still as relavant today as it was 50 yrs ago.
Long live the memory of Hank Williams, AKA Luke the Drifter