Country music legend Hank Williams was awarded a posthumous Special Citation as the Pulitzer Prize winners were announced last Monday.
The Pulitzer board awarded the late singer for his lifetime achievements. This award was based on a confidential survey of experts in popular music who paid tribute to his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.
For all the mystery, myth and misinformation surrounding the life and times of Hank Williams, one truth remains unchallenged: no one in the history of country music (perhaps in all of popular music) has so profoundly influenced those who followed. It is now more than forty years since his passing – far more time than he spent on earth – and still he serves as the model for countless singers. Still, his songs are cited as the highest standard of the writer’s craft, and the image of this fragile young man, standing onstage pouring out his soul in defiance of physical pain and inner demons, continues to inspire. That he was quickly consumed, some would say by the very forces that fueled his singular talent, remains a lesson in the price of excess – Hank Williams Website.
Read the full story in The Tennessean
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