<\/p>\n
\n\tThe name Hank Williams<\/a> comes with loads of connotations, thanks to a short but fiery ascent and an equally speedy burnout that made him a country legend.<\/p>\n \n\tHe was an inspiring songwriter, an energetic performer, a tragic addict, a frail spina bifida victim and \u2014 based on his portrait of his marriage to Audrey Williams \u2014 a bit of a drama queen.<\/p>\n \n\tSunday (Sept. 17) marks 100 years since his birth in Alabama, and the century milestone finds his legacy barreling down two tracks. On one hand, he was a breakthrough songwriter whose ability to turn real-life events into melodic, poetic soap operas has influenced generations of artists and composers. On the other, he remains a mythological figure who died in the back seat of a Cadillac during an overnight journey to a concert, a passage that is as mysterious and misunderstood as the bad fortune he stumbled into \u2014 or created \u2014 during his 29 years on earth.<\/p>\n \n\tNeither his artistic track nor his iconic level of tragedy would matter 10 decades after his introduction if Hank Sr. hadn\u2019t had such impact.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s so deceptively difficult to do what he did, like the ability to have humor and marry that with real, raw, honest emotion,\u201d says Ward Hayden, whose Boston-based band Ward Hayden & the Outliers released A Celebration of Hank Williams Live<\/em> on Sept. 1. \u201cHe definitely found something unique, which is why I think so many people have used his music as inspiration. I mean, he really set the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s often said by traditionalists that Hank Sr. wouldn\u2019t have been able to get a recording deal in modern Nashville, but that doesn\u2019t mean his presence isn\u2019t still felt. In Hailey Whitters<\/a>\u2019 recent top 20 single \u201cEverything She Ain\u2019t,\u201d the singer pledges to be \u201cthe Audrey to your Hank.\u201d And in Walker Hayes<\/a>\u2019 current \u201cGood With Me,\u201d he lampoons himself: \u201cBuddy thinks everything I sing sucks\/ \u2019Cause it don\u2019t sound like Hank.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s one of the frequent criticisms of modern country: that artists who cite Hank Sr. might not even know, let alone appreciate, his music. Even in cases where that\u2019s true, those performers still owe him a debt for the revolution he brought to the genre.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnybody who writes a personal song, in some ways, traces back to Hank because when he started, people were writing more generic songs \u2014 you know, the tragedies and the heart songs, family and home and God,\u201d says Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum senior writer Michael McCall. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t as personal, but Hank sensed all of those things and made them personal. People felt like he was singing about his life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOften he was. \u201cCold, Cold Heart,\u201d \u201cYour Cheatin\u2019 Heart\u201d and \u201cYou Win Again\u201d \u2014 an achingly distraught ballad recorded the day after his second divorce from Audrey became final \u2014 were all about that central relationship. Even now, Kelsea Ballerini, Megan Moroney, Maren Morris, Jason Aldean and Thomas Rhett are just a smattering of the country artists whose lives or their personal beliefs are incorporated into the material they record.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe all feel like we know Dolly Parton,\u201d says Williams\u2019 grandson, Mercury Nashville recording artist Sam Williams. \u201cPeople in my generation, with my music tastes, we know Miley Cyrus \u2014 we grew up with Miley Cyrus, we know her different facets. And I think that so many people are able to feel like they know [Hank Sr.] by the honesty that he put in his songs.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSam never met his grandfather, but based on the recordings, he believes he inherited some of the same personal traits: a tendency to be misunderstood, a \u201cgoofy\u201d sense of humor, a strong work ethic and a posture as a hopeless romantic. He recorded one of Hank Sr.\u2019s songs for the first time in conjunction with the 100th anniversary. Sam delivers \u201cI\u2019m So Lonesome I Could Cry\u201d with slight melodic changes, darker chord textures and a robust arrangement that heightens the despair in its text.<\/p>\n