Yup, All of Hank Williams in One Box

Yup, indeed. Mostly you see TV stuff on Hank that makes you feel sorry for him as well you might. Not happy to die young, to drink too much, to be unlucky in love.

But artists like Hank Williams and Leadbelly and Bob Dylan -- monumental in their oddly down-to-earth ways -- transcend the circumstances of their lives. They achieve immortality by the sheer power of the songs they write and of the way their performance impacts the soul of the culture.

For a guy with twang, I suspect Hank is as appreciated outside of country as inside. I once knew an older songwriter called Jimmy Rule who told me a story about Hank coming in one day with some words scrawled on paper. Do you think this is alright? Jimmy stared down at what was to be the lyric of a song as perfect in its way as McCartney's Yesterday or Mercer's Moon River.

Did you ever see a robin weep? ... I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Anyway, all you need to do is click on 'more information' under the album above to feast your eyes on everything Hank ever did that is truly immortal.

One of my favorites is the cheerful, Hey Good Lookin' and, of course, I Got A Feeling Called the Blues.

Anyone who wants an American music collection will want this. Even someone who hates country may appreciate the swing element that is so prominent in much of the instrumentation and feel of Hank's music. Indeed when I think of Hank I do not think of the Nashville that followed him and that made a sort of saint of him. I think of Bob Wills. Amd even Bib Bands.

For me, Hank is not someone I listen to evry day. He's someone I am never sorry tohear and someone I can get deeply into at times. At such moments, I am confronted with an elemental genius. Who could have written a love song in a Native American crazed up tempo beat about a cigar store Indian? And who could have ever written as perfect a poem as I'm So Lonesome.

Unless your music loving friend or relation cannot stand country, this is a pretty safe gift. If your friend or relative is a country fan and does not have this, you will be on the receiving end of some heavy and heartfelt gratitude.