He was just twenty-nine years old and had beena recording artist for less than six years when he died on New Year's Day 1953. Yet the songs Hank Williams left behind-including "I Saw the Light," "Cold Cold Heart," "Your Cheatin' Heart"-transformed him into a legend whose influence is felt as strongly today as ever. But for all that Hank Williams's music seems to reveal, his fans have been given remarkably little of the man himself. Now Colin Escott and Kira Florita present a previously undiscovered wealth of private family snapshots, letters, unpublished interviews, and other ephemera-including his final lyric, found in the backseat of the car where he died. Most extraordinary, though, are the previously unseen handwritten lyrics-almost thirty songs altogether. In paperback for the first time, this is a windfall of memorabilia for his fans everywhere."An amazing slice of music Americana....This haunting volume has the jarring effect of a train wreck: You simply can't look away. Country artist Marty Stuart provides a fascinating introduction." -Nashville Scene