Ten Favorite Country Songwriters: Hank Williams (#9)

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I have three eyes (I wear glasses) on the weather. I'm supposed to head to Knoxville after work today, but we'll see how that goes. I'll go ahead and list my next songwriter on my list of ten favorite country songwriters, an idea inspired by @teamfreak16 when he listed his favorite male and female songwriters. Here's the next one. #9: Hank Williams Yeah, who didn't see this one coming? Let's face it: if this guy isn't on the list, there's some serious questions about the list. They call him "the Hillbilly Shakespeare." He wasn't around long, but dang what an influence he had. He died at the peak of his career, and his death is surrounded in mystery with more theories than JFK's assassination. (It's ironic that I'm heading to Knoxville: that was the last place Hank was absolutely known to be alive.) The generational legacy is only matched by the Carters, too: his son followed in his footsteps (even the self-destructive behavior part, nearly losing his life when he fell off a mountain in Montana); his daughter, Jett, born five days after Hank's death; and grandchildren Shelton "Hank III" and Holly are out there in the music world. Some are more country than others. He's also had a sizable number of songs written about him (see last year's countdown of favorite songs about Hank Williams). There are four people named "Hank" in the Hall of Fame, and several more in country music with that first name. But everybody knows who you're talking about when you say "Hank." Hank Williams Born: Hiram King Williams, September 17, 1923, Mt. Olive, AL; died January 1, 1953, Oak Hill, WV (heart failure) Country Music Hall of Fame - 1961 (3rd inductee) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 1987 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame - 1970 Songwriters Hall of Fame - 1970 Grammy Lifetime Achievement award - 1987 Best-known songs: "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin'," "I Saw the Light," "Move It on Over" (also covered by George Thorogood & the Destroyers). I've already highlighted my ten favorite Hank songs, so I thought I'd post this song, which was ironically the single going up the charts when he died: