Hank Williams: Timeless

One fascinating thing about the music of Hank Williams is that it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s from another time — more like it feels as though it’s always been around, the bedrock of a long American tradition that its greatest practitioners never stray far from. Lost Highway’s 2001 tribute comp Timeless proves that just with a skim of its roster, with representation by Williams’ torchbearers, surprising next-gen heirs, and, in the case of Hank III, actual flesh and blood. The latter’s “I’m a Long Gone Daddy” is the country-punk firebrand doing his grandpappy proper with a hi-fi take on an otherwise vintage steel-and-fiddle sound — and the twang in his voice echoes his family tree with eerie familiarity. But the stars who join him in this collection are just as faithful, at least in their own kinds of ways. Bob Dylan’s “I Can’t Get You Off of My Mind” is a lively roots boogie with subtle zydeco flourishes, a highlight of a year where he also gave us Love and Theft. Keb’ Mo’ imbues “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” with a country-blues sway and a voice that finds a warm strain of heartache. Lucinda Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart” puts her wounded yet resilient voice front and center in front of a lonely, dusty acoustic arrangement as desolate yet gorgeous as the vistas of Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas. Keith Richards’ “You Win Again” bristles with the spirit of Sticky Fingers in high resolution, only with his wearied voice as the showcase instrument that his guitar subtly accompanies. Even Beck plays it as straightfaced as anything he’d done this side of One Foot in the Grave, though Jon Brion’s arrangements on “Your Cheatin’ Heart” emphasize a dreamlike feeling that reverberates like the darkness of a moonless night. And if you haven’t had to hold back tears at any point during this record, you will at Johnny Cash’s closer “I Dreamed About Mama Last Night” — part-sung, part-recited, with a bottomless sorrow in his voice.