Hank Thompson My Side of Life
LONGTIME HANK THOMPSON PAL SHARES SINGER'S COUNTRY TALES IN NEW BIOGRAPHY By MARIO TARRADELL / The Dallas Morning News Hank Thompson was a storyteller in song and in person. He liked to spin a tale. He'd get a mischievous look in his eyes, he'd grin slyly, and his robust voice would soar and dip as the plot thickened. The punch line always came with a wallop. So it's fitting that the late Mr. Thompson's biography My Side of Life, written by longtime friend Warren Kice comes chock full of stories. In fact, just about every one of the 292 pages has a tidbit, an anecdote from the Waco-born Country Music Hall of Fame inductee's 60 years of performing and recording. Want to know about Mr. Thompson's female groupies? There were many, including two named Hurricane Shirley and Black Rider. Each gig had an after-hours soiree dubbed the Brazos Valley Boys Invitation Only Fun and Games Unwinding Party. He's got a handful of R-rated tales about the late singer Faron Young as well as a variety of Brazos Valley Boys members. Mr. Thompson, who died at his Keller home in November after battling lung cancer, made a signature brand of honky-tonk-influenced Western swing brimming with rugged attitude and top-notch musicianship. His heyday extended through the '50s and '60s. He charted 79 singles, 30 of which hit the Top 10. His best-known tune is 1952's The Wild Side of Life; a No. 1 hit for 15 weeks. My Side of Life chronicles This entire career. Mr. Kice, a Dallas-based retired attorney, isn't an author. (Legal briefs don't count in this case.) But his attention to detail is impeccable, and he's clearly passionate about his subject. So My Side of Life turns into an entertaining read and one that moves along smoothly. Chapters are short, which accounts for having 58 of them. Mr. Kice vividly takes us to Waco during the days of Prohibition. That's when Henry William Thompson first heard the music of Jimmie Rodgers, the pioneering country singer and yodeler. That inspiration sparked an enduring livelihood that remained passionate through Mr. Thompson's service in the Navy during World War II. As a civilian, he recorded for Capitol Records, the label where he enjoyed the career-making staples, before tripping through four more imprints. He formed his Brazos Valley Boys in 1950 and toured nationally and internationally, winning Billboard's No. 1 country and Western band award for 14 consecutive years. In My Side of Life, Mr. Thompson's personal existence and his public persona intertwine. Mr. Kice makes sure to paint the picture of a strong-willed yet reasonable man who treated everybody as he would have wanted to be treated. The onetime Oklahoma-based star held steadfast to his convictions, especially to his traditional country music roots, but always displayed an easygoing demeanor. In Ann, his second wife, Mr. Thompson found his soul mate. Their marriage lasted to his death 37 years later. She was his wife, business partner, traveling companion and fan. Mr. Thompson met her at one of his shows while he was still wedded to his first wife, Dorothy. He had run into Ann two more times during gigs in the '60s before their romance materialized. His long-standing relationships, including musical friendships that remained solid for decades, underscored Mr. Thompson's artistic longevity. He influenced future stars such as George Strait, Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill and even Bob Dylan. --Mario Tarradell, The Dallas Morning NewsI found My Side of Life hard to put down. It is a remarkable achievement on Warren Kice s part, for a number of reasons. Not only is it well-researched, it may be the most honest portrayal of anyone that I have ever read. Warren didn't pull any punches with the stories or the dialogue and I found that pretty amazing. He also didn't try to sugar-coat the realities of Hank's declining popularity over the years, or troubles with record companies, club owners, etc. In the end, he painted a wonderful picture of a guy who had a rare talent, and the ability to organize and make something of it. These two qualities truly set Hank apart, as too many talented musicians lack the latter, and see their life's work come to nothing. Hank has left a legacy that makes me want to explore further. There were many songs mentioned in the book that I have never heard. I particularly like the way that Warren organized the text into snippets or anecdotes, yet kept it flowing chronologically. I also like the way he interspersed key photos at the appropriate time, rather than just throwing them all into the middle in a generic photos pile. I also personally loved the details about Hank's guitars, the songs, etc. I found them fascinating and indicative of the hard work Warren put into the research. He is probably going to get some flack from the graphic descriptions of the band's shenanigans, and explicit profanity (failure to use [bleep] or [###] instead of just telling what was said). What he presented was raw and unvarnished, and I for one thank him for doing it. A lot of conservative, older people (older than me) may be put off by it, but I hope not. Musicians on the road are not choirboys, but I don't know when anybody has had the guts to really lay out the events of the pre-rock, pre-free-love era the way Warren did. Again, my hat's off to Warren for having the guts to present it the way he did. He had to know that not everybody was going to be happy about it, and I'm happy that Hank and Ann shared Warren's courage. --John Bailey