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There are plenty of iconic names in the history of country music—Carter, Rodgers, Williams and Lynn come to mind—but there’s one name that towers above all the others: Hank. There have been more country stars named Hank than Joe or Johnny or Mary or Sue, and their impact has been remarkable. Now Tennessee Walt is offering Tennessee Walt’s Hanks a Lot!, an all-new show celebrating all of country music’s greatest Hanks, appearing at the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library on Wednesday, November 7, at 12:30 p.m.
Tennessee Walt’s Hanks a Lot! is a one-man concert featuring plenty of songs by Hank Williams, of course, but also both classics and underappreciated rarities by the likes of Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Hank Locklin, Hank Garland, Hank Cochran, Hank Penny and even Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams III, arranged by Tennessee Walt for voice and piano. It’s a musical celebration of 95 years of Hanks (Hank Williams, the first and still the greatest Hank, would have been 95 this year), filled with great songs and also with intriguing, thought-provoking background information on the classic songs and the great Hanks who made them.
“Obviously it was the iconic status of Hank Williams that made so many country singers go by Hank,” said Gayden Wren, the musical-theater veteran who performs as Tennessee Walt. “That’s ironic, because Williams himself wasn’t named Hank or Henry—his birth name was Hiram. The songs in this show span the period from 1948 to the present day, and about half of them are by Williams, both classics like ‘Your Cold, Cold Heart’ and ‘Jambalaya,’ but also some little-known gems, including one or two that Williams never recorded, that survived only in his demos.
