| If
Daniel O'Donnell is the brightly scrubbed face of British
country music then Hank Wangford is its guilty conscience,
its dark and troubled grubby soul. Hank has picked at the
miserable underbelly of country music for twenty years, inspiring
others like Billy Bragg, The The and The Alabama Three and
other alt.country musicians. He has spread the word with his
two television series, "Big Big Country" and "The
A to Z of C&W" and his books "Lost Cowboys"
and "Hank Wangford Vol 3 The Middle Years".
This messianic derailment onto the path of country music
came from befriending and playing with Gram Parsons, ex-Byrds
and Flying Burrito Brothers, in the seventies. This was
at a time when Hank - as Dr Sam Hutt - was a rock 'n roll
doctor. Many of his patients were from the world of rock
music and the hippie alternative world. The Grateful Dead,
the Who and the Rolling Stones were some of his clients.
It was when Gram Parsons came over to hang out in London
with Keith Richards that Keith sent Gram with his wife to
see Doctor Sam. Gram passed the country torch to Emmylou
Harris and the Rolling Stones as well as to Doctor Sam.
Since then Hank has fronted a series of hot country bands,
aiming for country non-believers. It's not all misery. Some
of his songs and stories are sad and some funny. He walks
the thin line between laughter and the dark.
|
|
