The upcoming biopic on Hank Williams entitled I Saw The Light has its leading lady. The part of Audrey Williams—Hank’s first wife and one of the foremost influences on his music—will be played by Elizabeth Olsen, little sister of famous twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and recent star of films such as Captain America:The Winter Soldier and Godzilla. She will play Audrey across from Tom Hiddleston.
When I spoke to Hank3 today for an extended period, I didn’t find a cocky, closed-minded individual suspicious of a foreign actor and who secretly wishes he would have been considered for the role (Hank3 does have some acting experience, and even his hardest detractors must admit he looks and sounds the part). What I found was a man seriously conflicted, being eaten up…
The saga continues around the casting of Tom Hiddleston as the iconic Hank Williams for an upcoming biopic on country’s first superstar called I Saw The Light. Though filming isn’t even scheduled to start for another few weeks, the concerns of having a British native play the park of Hank has some country music fans in a stir. “You got no soul or moan in your voice,” says Hank3.
ow we have received our first taste of Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams, and some are applauding, and some have started the furor over the casting anew. Though Hiddleston seemed to do a fine job singing, some Hank Williams fans are not feeling the similarities in the style. Hiddleston made a surprise appearance at the Wheatland Music Festival in Michigan on Saturday.
The question about David Allan Coe has never been if he’s a badass, but if he’s a little too badass. Some of his stories are hard to believe. Others are even harder to validate. And others are hard to herald because of the malevolent nature of the occurrences or outcomes. David Allan Coe is a living dichotomy. He’s a scary, weird, train wreck of a man; but an American treasure, and a country music legend.
In early August it was revealed that Guernsey’s Auctions out of New York City was preparing to auction off 2,000 items from the Waylon Jennings estate in Chandler, Arizona, with the proceeds going to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Now even more details of the auction items have been revealed as the auction house has made a detailed auction guide available for pre-order.
As one of the primary members of country music’s “Class of ’89” that’s regularly given credit for veering country music into a too commercial direction, Alan Jackson seems to never be given enough credit for being one of the genre’s staunch traditionalists that has stood up for the roots and the legends of country music arguably more than any other mainstream star.
What can collectors expect from this rare chance to own a piece of authentic Waylon Jennings memorabilia? Well for starters, there’s a pair of ornate leather boots once worn by Hank Williams that are adorned appropriately with a Phoenix on the front, and an ‘H’ in the middle for “Hank”. There’s also an authentic set of Willie Nelson’s famous Indian braids given to Waylon in 1983….
“What I love about CMA Music Fest, it reflects where country music is, you know?” Dierks Bentley says. “It’s a young, current, hip thing that’s happening that deserves to be in a downtown city center that’s new and growing and feels vibrant and just feels … represents the music properly. You know, this is not like your grandfather’s country music anymore.”
The health status of Randy Travis still remains very much in question, but that is not stopping the Randy Travis camp and Warner Bros. from releasing the second installment of his Influence: The Man I Am series on August 12th. The first album in the series was released on September 30th, 2013—a few months after Randy suffered a serious heart condition and subsequent stroke.
Finally one of the most under-appreciated, but wildly-influential lyricists in country music, one of country music’s forgotten Outlaw artists, and one of America’s most creative personalities is going to get his due on the silver screen. Shel Silverstein is slated to receive the biopic treatment in a film called A Boy Named Shel—a play on words of the song “A Boy Named Sue” made famous by Johnny Cash.
Actor Tom Hiddleston was announced on June 12th as the leading role in an upcoming biopic about the life of Hank Williams called I Saw The Light. Tom Hiddleston recently spoke to The Daily Mail about the film, reassuring concerned country music fans about the reverence with which he will approach the role. “I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”
All the silly talk about who was first and who ripped off who is mute when you bury your nose in the music catalog of the prototype of that predatory, aggressive, two-piece sound that blends blues, rockabilly, rock, country, surf, and a cavalcade of other obscure influences into the wild-eye concoction Dex Romweber has been throwing down for going on 30 years.
The grandson of Hank Williams, Hank Williams III, aka Hank3, is not happy with the casting of English actor Tom Hiddleston in the upcoming biopic about his grandfather. Hank3 reached out to TMZ to clarify his statements, but they refused to post anything further. So early Friday morning, Hank3 released a statement about why he feels the casting of Tom Hiddleston was the wrong move.
Country music legend Hank Williams will be getting a brand new retrospective in an upcoming movie called “I Saw The Light” that will be based off of the Colin Escott biography of Hank’s life, and directed and written by Marc Abraham, an American film producer known for such movies as Spy Game and most recently The Man With The Iron Fists.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read that comedian and country music performer Brad Paisley’s new album due out August 26th was called Moonshine in the Truck and “sees Paisley adapting the modern technology of EDM and dubstep to the classic country formula.” “The rulebook’s gone, or was there ever one?” Brad says. “They try, but I don’t play by it.”
25 tracks unearthed from four live studio performances recorded in Nashville in 1950 come together to constitute a new edition to the complete work of the Drifting Cowboy, Hank Williams. The performances, released by Omnivore Records and originally sponsored by Naughton Farms, a mail-order plant nursery in Waxahachie, TX, capture Hank Williams in his purest form.
For the second time in three months, one of country music’s most famous daughters has been arrested for DUI in Wilson County, TN, east of Nashville. She was stopped Friday May 9th at 11 PM, and was arrested for both DUI and for Violation of Implied Consent, meaning she refused to submit to a sobriety test. She was released Saturday morning on a $1,500 bond.
The singer recently released a memoir called A Voice Undefeated, and in the book he speaks candidly about his detest for what is currently happening in country music. “They’ve largely abandoned the reality-based moral message for the common man that made country music a strong cultural force for good,” Raye says…
Country music isn’t just a genre of music, it is a musical religion, a way of life, a cultural lineage passed down from generation to generation and preserved through the blood and bond of its performers and fans. That’s why it seems country music performers so very often tend to turn out to be the parents of country music performers themselves.
If country music is ever going to be saved, it is going to take people with true passion for the music tugging at the yoke, willing to do whatever it takes on and off the stage in the name of preserving the music and paying it forward. One such passionate young lady doing her part is songwriter and performer Angela Dodson, a performer, who also is the Event Center Manager at the Johnny Cash Museum.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, just when you thought you heard the last note of music from the legendary Hank Williams, yet another collection of recordings has surfaced from the Hillbilly Shakespeare called The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 to be released by Omnivore Records on May 20th. The 24 tracks haven’t been heard by the public in 64 years, and will be made available on CD, LP, and vinyl.
Tuesday was the release of Jerrod Niemann’s dumb new album High Noon, and before we’ve even had a chance to really delve into just how much of a mockery it makes of country music, Niemann’s already out there on the defensive, preaching to us how country “purists” really don’t know what the hell country music is all about, and how he’s just carrying on the traditions of Willie and Waylon.
Former Hootie & The Blowfish frontman turned country artist Darius Rucker was on sports personality Dan Patrick’s radio show Tuesday (3-4), and had some interesting things to say about who the new torch bearers are for country music’s Outlaw legacy. According to Darius Rucker and Dan Patrick, the new Willie and Waylon is Luke Bryan and Eric Church.