ideastream Celebrates the Remarkable Career of Hank Williams with Special Programming

Award-winning “Hank Williams: Still Cookin’” airs on 90.3 WCPN, Tuesday, June 22, 8pm
American Masters “Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues” airs on WVIZ/PBS Wednesday, June 23, 8pm

Hank Williams: Still Cookin’, the award-winning one-hour radio documentary produced by ideastream, examining the life and work of one of American music’s premier artists, airs on 90.3 WCPN on Tuesday, June 22 at 8pm and on Wednesday, June 23 at noon.

Also, as part of the celebration of Williams’ career, watch for the broadcast of Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues, part of the PBS American Masters series, which airs on WVIZ/PBS Wednesday, June 23 at 8pm.

Since its original broadcast in June 2003, Hank Williams: Still Cookin’ has been the recipient of important broadcasting industry awards including “Best Radio Documentary” and “Best of Show” from the National Headliner Awards and “The Award of Excellence” from the Communicator Awards. It was also honored with a “Golden Reel Award” from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters in the category of Local Music / Entertainment Program or Special, and most recently was recognized as a top program in the state of Ohio with the Ohio Associated Press award for “Best Radio Documentary” in a large market. The program was selected for national distribution through Public Radio International (PRI), and will be airing on NPR affiliate stations throughout the United States.

Judges for the National Headliner Awards called the program “…A stunning mix of music, natural sound, interviews and writing; this anniversary tribute to Hank Williams is a fine piece of very creative journalism as well as entertaining radio. Williams would be proud.”

In the documentary, ideastream’s David C. Barnett traces Williams’ career from the recording of his first hit song in 1948 through his ill-fated drive (by powder blue Cadillac) from Alabama to a 1953 New Year’s Day concert date in Canton, Ohio. The program invites listeners along for Williams’ final journey, as recalled through the memories of Hank’s driver, Charles Carr, the last person to see the singer alive.

The documentary interweaves recollections of this last road trip with anecdotes from Williams’ life and career, from his musical beginnings and meteoric rise on the country scene to the subsequent personal struggles that ultimately contributed to his death. The program also considers Williams’ influence on generations of musicians and musical styles through the present day.

Hank Williams: Still Cookin’ is a production of 90.3 WCPN ideastream, in association with the American Music Masters Series, a collaboration between Case Western Reserve University and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and was made possible by a grant from the Kulas Foundation.

Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues (the American Masters PBS program) features the first-ever on-camera interview with Williams’ widow; extensive interviews with Hank Williams Jr, Hank Williams III, original band members and others; home movies; and rare audio and film clips of early performances. As friends and family recall, Williams’ personal and professional life was one long series of jagged jerks between highs and lows — periods of darkness that inevitably led to hit songs. Within a single year, Williams enjoyed his first hit with “Move It on Over,” his drinking landed him in a sanatorium, his band left him and his wife filed for divorce for the first time. Honky Tonk Blues is a compelling story about America’s first true musical superstar and his enduring legend.