Local Performer Educates Library Patrons on Life and Times of Hank Williams

Patrons of the West Long Branch Public Library received quite the lesson on the life and times of one of country music’s greatest all-time singers on Saturday afternoon, as Brick Township resident Jim Murphy played several songs and told numerous stories about the life of Hank Williams.

Murphy himself is a well-known singer, as he was inducted into the Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007, located in Missouri Valley, IA. His band, Jim Murphy and the Pine Barons, was founded in 1969, and combines country music with a bluegrass style. 

Murphy has performed songs from Hank Williams’ repertoire  throughout the country for the past few decades. His knowledge about Williams’ career is so deep that he served on the Board of Directors of the Hank Williams International Society in Georgiana, Ala., for 10 years.

Murphy noted he simply loves all Hank Williams music, and he is an individual who he greatly respects and admires.

“The crowning thing about the life of Hank Williams was his intensity, and his ability to overcome all different adversities over the course of his life,” he said.

He continued to say how Williams has a great deal of fans worldwide, but there are still many people who do not really know about the life of the country singer. This is something that Murphy hopes to teach more people about.

"Though he is quite popular, there is still a lot of information that people don't really know about the man," he said.

Murphy noted on Saturday, he enjoys the bluegrass style of music, and one of his favorite performers is country music star Alan Jackson.

He then began his performance, “Vignettes from the Life of Hank Williams,” telling the crowd of 50 people about the life story of Hank Williams. He noted how Williams used to play his music on street corners for money, and how he avoided being drafted during World War II due to a preexisting spinal condition.

Murphy then began to perform some of Williams' hits, including one of the first songs the legendary country singer ever recorded. Murphy explained the only original copy of the song is in the vault of a bank in Montgomery, Ala., and was one of the most well known Williams’ songs, “I’m Not Coming Home Anymore.”

Later on, Murphy led the crowd in singing along with one of Williams’ classic hits, “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It,” noting it was the first one of Williams’ songs to climb the country music record charts.

Murphy concluded saying perhaps the most amazing thing about Williams was that he wrote some of his best work in the last few months of his life, and that was something he always admired about the famed country singer.

“He never really lost that intensity for his love of music,” Murphy said.