Books + Hank III = Fan Happy

The Best American Magazine Writing 2001

While looking for links and articles for this site, I stumbled upon a little gem that I’m going to share with you….  it’s a book titled “The Best American Magazine Writing 2001″. The book is a collection of Ellie Award winning magazine articles from a variety of different magazines.  In the world of magazines, no recognition is more highly coveted than an “Ellie,” the National Magazine Award presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors to the best of the American magazines. The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) is the professional organization for senior editors of consumer magazines and business publications which are edited, published, and sold in the United States. It sponsors the National Magazine Awards which are administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The Awards are the magazine equivalents to the Pulitzer Prizes of the newspaper industry.So you may be asking, “Why do I care?”  Because nestled inside this book are 20+ pages of an article written by Elizabeth Gilbert for GQ mag titled simply, “The Ghost”. It is a fabulous article about Hank III.

At first glance of the opening paragraphs the author appears to give the most generic and stereotypical analysis of Shelton, of his lifestyle and family background… Or maybe you can’t write a more honest, country legend story than the legacy that is the Williams family.  A publicist hoping to construct the perfect outlaw image couldn’t have done better than the real deal himself.

The article portrays Shelton as a young, headstrong, pissed off, partying loner. His contempt for the music business is evident.  It paints the perfect picture of a lonesome rebel musician, exactly the outlaw image that would be welcome in the realm of Rock N’ Roll but that Country music was built from and now frowns upon. The portrait of a young Shelton that is painted is “color-by-number” like.  Maybe it’s because we’ve heard so much of this since this article was written. But the author manages to construct an intimate portrait, even if it really only really scratches the surface, and the article leaves the reader wanting to know more.

Author discusses the usual subjects but the interview also reveals a few rarities: his grandfather, his mother, relationship with his father (or lack thereof), feelings on his record label CURB, his distain for Music Row, his one night stand, his punk past, love for Metal music, aunt Jett Williams, smoking weed, drinking booze, how pop country sucks, how his lawyer loves him, the tour bus and its amenities, Hasil Adkins and more.

This book is not only a good read but makes a great gift for the hardcore Hank III fan.  Admitted, I haven’t read any other part of the book other than the article about Hank III, but your hellbilly will thank you just the same.  New and used editions are available in our Hillbilly Emporium, starting at $ .58 plus shipping, so about $4.00 total but only if you hurry and only if you buy used.

If you want to read an except of this article, you can do so by clicking this link and clicking the “Search Inside This Book” link under the book image. Once you’ve done that, type Hank Williams III on the search bar on the left.