Memories of Pilgrims, Pickers and HonkyTonk Heroes
by Tim Ghianni
Hank Williams died Jan. 1, 1953. I was only 14 months old at the time, so I never got to meet and befriend the prototypical honky-tonk hero. I did get to meet and befriend friends and acolytes of his, from Little Jimmy Dickens to Kris Kristo erson. Hank wrote “Hey Good Lookin’” for Little Jimmy, whom he’d dubbed “Tater” … but decided the song was so good he should record it himself. Kristo erson, one of music’s most revolutionary wordsmiths, is known for “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” and “For The Good Times.” But he tipped his gurative hat to Hank’s poetic songwriting when he wrote “If You Don’t Like Hank Williams (You Can Kiss My Ass).” Those two great gentlemen are among the friends I spent time with, and lived to write about it, in my new book, Pilgrims, Pickers and Honky-Tonk Heroes. Others include great artists like Bobby Bare – who wrote the preface and is among my best friends – to Johnny and June Cash, Mac Wiseman, Earl and Louise Scruggs and great Nashville R&B stars like Bobby Hebb, who wrote his way out of despair with the classic song “Sunny.” Jimi Hendrix even makes an appearance, thanks to his friendship with bassist and bandmate Nashvillian Billy Cox. From what I read about Hank and what he crammed into his 29½ robust years of heartache, heart-lift and honky-tonking and, most-important, lyrics that were like so many nicotine-stained, whiskey-washed, wrinkled sheets lines of poetry, I know I would have liked him. Hank doesn’t have a chapter, but the short paragraphs about him illustrate the loving-the-human, faults-and-all, attitude that One of the many photographs in his book has author Tim Ghianni joining his friend, drove me to write the book. Hank’s life remains the greatest legend and tragedy in a music Bobby Bare, in 2022 when the Country Music Hall of Famer got his star in the form lled with “Lullabys, Legends and Lies,” as my favorite Music City Walk of Fame. The two rst country singer, my pal Bobby Bare, relished and embellished in a met 51 years ago, and that friendship is one o f t h e m a n y d e t a i l e d i n Gh i a n n i 's half-century-old collection of songs written by his running buddy, book, Pilgrims, Pickers and Honky-Tonk Heroes. the late Shel Silverstein. I met Bare (and Shel) 51 years ago in a desolate corner of Nashville’s Lower Broadway (the encounter sets the stage for my book) at an after-midnight hour t only for the red-eyed pilgrims, pickers, prostitutes and barkeeps who felt semi-safe down there.
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