On American Pastimes: Hank Williams, the Lost Notebooks. A One-Hour Radio Special.

Hank Williams had developed a habit of constantly jotting down lyric ideas on napkins, receipts, hotel stationery, and any other scrap of paper that came in handy. While his personal life may have been in a drug and alcohol induced shambles he managed write down these song fragments and meticulously store them in a set of notebooks he carried around in an old leather satchel. His neatly written lyric fragments were even dated. He’d piece them together and write out completed songs and verses, filling up even more notebooks.

When Hank died on New Year’s Day 1953, en route to a show in Canton, Ohio, the satchel was at his side in the back of his Cadillac, and he left nearly seventy songs written down in those notebooks, some completely finished and others consisting of only a verse or two, but none of them set to music or recorded to tape. After his death, much of his belongings were thrown out and his guitars and clothing went to pawn shops. His mother however found the cache of notebooks and she turned them over to Williams' publisher. They’ve sat in a vault for most of the ensuing decades.

In 2001 Mary Martin produced a Grammy winning recording called "Timeless". It was a Hank Williams tribute album. Later she proposed that Bob Dylan work with the notebook material, provide additional lyrics, bridges, and arrangements, and release it as a cover album. Dylan decided against it, telling Holly Williams that “that's a lot of pressure on me.” He eventually invited other songwriters to participate and so fifty eight years after Hank’s death, twelve new songs grace radio airwaves.

Are they Hank Williams songs? Or just Williamsesque? More importantly, are they good songs? Will they have the timelessness of Hank's original recordings? Check back in 60 years for these answers.

This week American Pastimes features a one hour radio special: "Hank Williams, the Lost Notebooks." It is hosted by Alejandro Escovedo and features the music and interviews with the songwriters who participated in the project.