The “most special” album Jack White was ever a part of: “It was a monumental moment”
Jack White described The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams as among the most special projects he had joined, calling his contribution a monumental and personally fulfilling experience. The album mattered to him because it connected him directly with Hank Williams’s unfinished work and Nashville’s musical history, which White has long admired.
Released in 2011, the project set previously unpublished Hank Williams lyrics to new music by artists including Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams and White. White chose the lyric ‘You Know That I Know’, said he felt compelled to complete it, and recorded the song after being invited by Dylan to take part.
- White treasured completing an unpublished Hank Williams lyric.
- The 2011 album featured several prominent musicians.
- White’s track was ‘You Know That I Know’.
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Hank Williams was one of the most influential American country singers and songwriters of the 20th century. He wrote standards including ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ before his death in 1953, aged 29, leaving behind songs and lyric fragments that had not been recorded.
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams was a 2011 tribute album built from some of those unpublished writings. Contemporary musicians created new music around the words, linking Williams’s work with artists from country, rock and folk.
Jack White is a musician and producer best known as one half of the rock duo the White Stripes. He has often drawn on older American musical styles, and has strong ties to Nashville, where Hank Williams’s career was closely associated with the country music industry.