>Tom,
>
>Completely off the point of your post, it gave me a pleasant jolt to see the lyrics of "I Saw the Light". It is one of my favorite Hank songs, one I came to belatedly despite growing up in a house where C&W and Hank were staples. The first time I heard it was in London, of all places, in a play in the West End called "The Show He Never Gave." The setup was what if he had not died that night, drunk in the back of a white Cadillac, and gone on to do his scheduled gig. The actor playing Hank did a terrific job of portraying a man who was at once alive and one who was speaking to the audience from beyond the grave. "I Saw the Light" was one of the songs in the show. It wasn't until later that I learned it was a real Hank song, not something written for the stage show. His early, overtly spiritual songs were airbrushed out of the catalog for quite a while. I'm not saying right or wrong -- I'm not going NEAR that tar baby -- just an observation.
>
>At least half the people here are probably scratching their heads, wondering who the heck this dead singer was. My ultra succinct stab at it is he was a guy from Alabama who somehow became the voice of country music, and remains so six decades after his death at 29. The human sense of heartbreak epitomized in songs like "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "Cold, Cold Heart" has never gone out of style.

I'd be willing to bet that way more than half the folks here know who he was. He was just far too important for me to believe so few have heard of him. Some will probably know him just because of his son.