South West Music Archive: Hank night 2009 -- Royal Hotel Warrnambool

Monday, August 7, 2017

Hank night 2009 -- Royal Hotel Warrnambool

Music of the dead given a new life

Matt Neal Warrnambool Standard Sept. 17th 2009 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard 2009.

HANK Williams favourites such as Your Cheatin' Heart, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry and Jambalaya (On The Bayou) might be on the bill tonight when south-west artists pay tribute to the country and western legend. Williams, who died aged 29 on New Year's Day 1953, has been the subject of musical homages in Warrnambool on-and-off for about a decade. Tonight's celebration - the ninth - is not only a fund-raiser for community station 3WAY FM but also a showcase of some of the region's best country and non-country musicians. The line-up includes Richard Tankard, Little Liver Band, Pocket Rockets, Louie Clancey Band, Rusty Bucks, Eddy Boyle Band, Trevor Keilar and more. Organiser Michael Schack said Hank Williams' legacy lived on because of the strength of his songs. "They have themes that people can relate to and (that's why) people are continually recording his songs in various genres," Schack said. The Hank Williams tribute night, which traditionally takes place on or around the anniversary of his birth (September 17), has been expanded to allow artists to play songs by "anyone who has died", Schack said, but the focus remains mostly on the music of Hank. The music begins at the Royal Hotel in Warrnambool at 7.30pm.