The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams

This is a dream project: 12 previously unreleased lyrics by country legend Hank Williams set to music by 13 recording artists and supervised by Bob Dylan. It seems that when Hank died in the back of his Cadillac on New Year’s Day 1953, at age 29, he left behind a worn leather satchel filled with unfinished songs. A half century later, Dylan, Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones, Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Levon Helm, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell, Holly Williams, Patty Loveless, and Jakob Dylan have breathed life into these lost riches. On the strong lament “I Hope You Shed a Million Tears,” with a crying pedal steel echoing “I’m So Lonely I Could Cry,” Gill and Crowell have even added the sound of a scratchy vinyl album to the track. Still, gimmicks aside, these artists have given voice to a dozen classics in the making. Alan Jackson, on “You’ve Been Lonesome, Too,” comes the closest to channeling William’s vocal style. And, once again, pop-jazz artist Norah Jones shows her affinity for the country genre. But for a lot of folks, the surprise here will be the fine unaffected vocal by relative newcomer Holly Williams, 29, daughter of Hank Williams Jr. Fifty years after his death, the great Hank Williams keeps delivering timeless treasures.