Bob Dylan, Jack White Work On Lost Hank Williams Songs

When not selling Cadillacs, or being covered by everybody, Dylan's hanging with famous Detroit bullfighter Jack White and friends to finish up a few lost honkytonk tunes. According to Paste, they're composing the music to Hank Williams's unused lyrics.

The mag spoke with Jack's pal Dominic Suchyta of blue grass-y Michigan quartet Steppin' In It. He played bass on one of the tracks.

“This project started when Bob Dylan acquired the ‘lost’ Hank Williams songs,” Suchyta tells Paste. “Essentially, the lyric sheets Hank died with in his briefcase. Jack is my oldest friend, we talk on occasion and he asked me to come down and record. Dylan had contacted him to see if he'd like to finish some of these tunes.”

White recorded the song at Blackbird Studios in Nashville with engineer Joe Chiccarelli, Suchyta on upright bass, Carla Azar (Autolux) on drums, Donny Herron (Bob Dylan, BR549) on 8-string guitar and Dean Fertita (Raconteurs, Waxwings) on acoustic guitar. “We did the session in one long day,” Suchyta says of the secret taping, “live in a circle with some mics around—much like Hank would have.”

They recorded an unfinished Williams song called “You Know That I Know.” “No one has heard it as it was a Hank Williams lyric sheet that Jack put to music and edited a bit,” says Suchyta. “Jack was sent most of or all of the unfinished tunes and picked this one to finish. We listened to quite a bit of Hank while I was down there and sat around the two of us playing our favorite Hank tunes, but the song was done when I got there. I think Jack just ingested a bunch of Hank Williams and this is what came out of him.”

Suchyta says that Dylan didn’t record with White that day, “but I wouldn't put it past either of them. They seem to be cut from the same cloth, sort of misplaced Midwestern brothers. I do know Jack has joined him on stage quite a bit and joined him for his XM radio show. When we were high school teenagers, we recorded quite a few Dylan tunes on our old 4-track reel machine. I remember having a nice version of ‘Masters Of War’ on some cassette somewhere. Jack played drums and guitar, I played bass and guitar.”

Suchya also says he "heard through the grapevine that Willie Nelson and Norah Jones" are also possible participants, but that remains unconfirmed. That's quite a bit of conjecture, but until it's proven false ... why not. Sorta reminiscent of that Mermaid Avenue project ten years ago. Except, ya know, with Jack and Hank instead of Wilco and Woody.

Posted at 2:58 PM
Tags: Bob Dylan | Hank Williams | Jack White | The White Stripes