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Timeless

(Music Of Hank Williams)

170 239-2

Released on the Nashville - Lost Highway Records label, 12 artistes from differing backgrounds of popular music present this all-powerful tribute to the memory of country music's first superstar Hank Williams. As the majority of country fans know, Hank Snr passed away in the back of his Cadillac on New Year's Eve at the untimely age of just 29 years. In the few years when Hank Williams was briefly one of the biggest draws in America's music business, he left us with a legacy that will live for an entirety.

This kaleidoscope of legendary songs popularised by Hank Williams, are reinterpreted by this list of seminal artistes transporting delight and new exhilaration to the graphical heart of country music, with effectiveness that is well communicated to the listener.

Tales of rejection, misuse and dysfunctional relationships are blended with unadorned despair. Bob Dylan opens with 'I Can't Get You Off Of My Mind'. Sheryl Crow's dainty vocals wonderfully emulates the Hank Williams whine on a splendid version 'Long Gone Lonesome Blues', while Keb' Mo' delivers a heart wrenching conformation of 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Die', effectively accompanied by the atmospheric violin playing of Karen Bruggs and Greg Leisz on steel guitar, giving this track an air of dispirited desolation. Pop singer Beck gives 'Your Cheatin' Heart' a soft and slow working that will turn the coldest of hearts into mush. Mark Knopfler is joined by Emmylou Harris for a duet with 'Lost on The River' before Mark and his band join Emmy for her own contribution with the despondent 'Lone And Forsaken'.

Hank Williams described himself as a folk and blues singer and was a keen interpreter of the emotional landscape, with many of the songs he wrote being inspired through his own troubled experiences of life. Tom Petty informs us 'Your Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)'.Other contribution come from Keith Richards and 'You Win Again', with Ryan Adams contributing the essential 'Love Sick Blues' and Lucinda Williams following on with the heart-rending 'Cold, Cold Heart'.

Hank Williams own grandson Hank III keeps within the boundaries of his grandfather's musical style with the sensational 'I'm A Long Gone Daddy'. This magnificent album is brought to a finale by Johnny Cash, with a recitation of 'I Dreamed About Mama Last Night', lifting the hairs at the back of the neck and sending a slight shiver down the spine as the gentle instrumentation of Randy Scruggs, Jack Clement and Norman Blake - guitar, Laura cash - fiddle and Dave Rorick - bass delicately back-up this icon of country music.

In the liner notes, album producer Luke Lewis ideally sums up Timeless saying, "This recording is an opportunity for a group of today's incomparable Artists to continue to add to Hanks' legacy making it possible for all of us to reconnect with his genius." That genius is certainly communicated with the 12 tracks on Timeless.