I Saw the Light: The Story of Hank Williams

"Fast and interesting reading. . . . An impressive book. . . . Probably the definitive word on Hank William's life." — Boston Globe

In his brief life, Hank Williams created one of the defining bodies of American music. Songs such as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Hey, Good Lookin', and "Jambalaya" sold millions of records and became the model for virtually all country music that followed. But by the time of his death at age twenty-nine, Williams had drunk and drugged and philandered his way through two messy marriages and out of his headline spot on the Grand Ole Opry. Even though he was country music's top seller, toward the end he was so famously unreliable that he was lucky to get a booking in a beer hall.

Colin Escott's enthralling, definitive biograph—now the basis of the major motion picture I Saw the Light—vividly details the singer's stunning rise and his spectacular decline, revealing much that was previously unknown or hidden about the life of this country music legend.

Originally published as Hank Williams: The Biography

"Our best look yet into Hank Williams's pained, piercing eyes. . . . Escott has peeled away the layers of legend."― Philadelphia Inquirer

"Deftly written and researched. . . . Colin Escott is Hank Williams's latest and best biographer."― Newsweek