My Top Ten Songs About Hank: Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul (#3)

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We're getting into real tall cotton here when it comes to songs that deal with Hank Williams. And, for today's song about Hank, we're not only in tall cotton but very unique cotton. #3: Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul - Stoney Edwards No, don't rub your eyes while looking at the pictures in the video. Stoney Edwards really was a black man singing country music. And oh, how he sang country music. One of his hits was "She's My Rock," which George Jones loved so much that he later covered. Influenced by the "honky tonk" (or "real") country sounds of the 1950s, Edwards dreamed of the Opry from his youth. Thanks to Charley Pride's success Edwards was able to get a recording contract. He had some hits but his career was nowhere near as massive as Pride's (who's in the Country Music Hall of Fame). Still, his music struck a chord with lots of fans, who really didn't care about his skin color. Here Stoney sang about growing up listening to two of the great icons of 1950s country music: Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, courtesy of his dad's love for the music. "Daddy said the hair on his neck would crawl when ol' Hank sang about the light he saw." In the chorus Edwards sang, "I learned how to sing and shuffle my shoes listening to Hank sing 'Lovesick Blues," adding, "We never met ol' Hank, but we was awful close." That's pretty much how anyone who's been affected by Hank Williams' music feels. Stoney Edwards died in 1999 of stomach cancer at the age of 67. He left a legacy of some great, under-appreciated country music that is much more than the "novelty" of a black man singing country music. Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul Written by Dallas Frazier and A.L. "Doodle" Owens Recorded by Stoney Edwards Released as a single, 1973 One of Stoney Edwards' classic hits: