Nationally syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson’s Hank Hung the Moon is more of a musical memoir than a biography: the author’s evocative and personal stories of 1950s and ’60s musical staples―elementary school rhythm bands, British Invasion rock concerts and tear-jerker movie musicals. It was a simpler time when Hank roamed the Earth; the book celebrates a world of 78 rpm records and 5-cent Cokes, with Hank providing the soundtrack and wisdom.
A Cajun girl learns to understand English by listening to Hank on the radio. A Hank impersonator works by day at a prison but, by night, makes good use of his college degree in country music. Hank’s lost daughter, Jett, devotes her life to embracing the father she never knew.
Finally, stories you haven’t heard a thousand times before about people who love Hank, some famous, most not. This lively little book uses Hank as metaphor for life. You’ll tap your toe and demand an encore.
RHETA GRIMSLEY JOHNSON covered the South for over three decades as a newspaper reporter and columnist, winning several national awards for her reporting, including the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award, the Headliner Award, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Distinguished Writing Award. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary, Johnson is a member of the Scripps Howard Newspapers Editorial Hall of Fame and the author of several books, including Poor Man’s Provence; Hank Hung the Moon and Warmed Our Cold, Cold Hearts; and more. A native of Colquitt, Georgia, she grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and has lived and worked in the South all her career.