After he died in the back seat of a Cadillac at the age of twenty-nine, Hank Williamsa frail, flawed man who had become country musics first real starinstantly morphed into its first tragic martyr. Having hit the heights with simple songs of despair, depression and tainted love, he would become in death a template for the rock generation to follow.

Mark Ribowsky weaves together the first fully realised biography of Williams in a generation. Examining his music while re-creating days and nights choked in booze and desperation, he traces the rise of this legendfrom the dirt roads of Alabama to the immortal stage of the Grand Ole Opry and to a lonely end on New Years Day, 1953. This original work uncovers the real Hank beneath the myths that have long enshrouded his legacy.