The 2025 Hank-O-Rama Hank Williams tribute concert will take place at The Bowery Electric, Jan. 1.
“In my mind, Hank Williams is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century,” says Lenny Kaye. “I mean, can you come up with a better couplet than ‘Hey good lookin’, whatcha got cookin’? How about cookin’ something up with me?’?”
The Patti Smith Group co-founder, author and producer will play pedal steel guitar for the Montclair-based The Lonesome Prairie Dogs when they celebrate the music of country icon Williams — who died on Jan. 1, 1953, at the age of 29 — at the 21st annual New Year’s Hank-o-Rama event, which will take place at The Bowery Electric in New York, Jan. 1 at 7 p.m.
The Lonesome Prairie Dogs — led by Steve Strunsky on vocals and guitar and Heidi Lieb on bass and vocals, with Mike Dvorkin on lead guitar, Ellie Goodman on fiddle and Kenny Soule on drums, in addition to Kaye — will perform more than 30 of Williams’ songs, including “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Cold, Cold Heart” and “Lost Highway.” They will be joined by a multi-talented group of artists including Tammy Faye Starlite, Elena Skye and Boo Reiners of The Demolition String Band, Jack Grace, Sean Kershaw, Monica Passin, Cliff Westfall and John S. Hall.
Performing with them — with original horn arrangements for Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man,” “Alone and Forsaken” and others — will be The Lonesome Horns, featuring trumpeters Jordan McLean and Billy Aukstik.
Strunsky says that he and Lieb, who are married, “really didn’t know if there would be a Hank-O 21 until a couple of months ago. Twenty straight years of spending most of our holiday season putting together a show with so many people is tons of work. And last year was the first time we didn’t lose money.
“But then the night of the show arrives, and everybody has a great time — us dawgs, our guests, the audience, whether it’s newbies at their first Hank-O or the folks who keep coming back. And we can be satisfied that we did our part to keep Hank’s music not just alive, but live.”
STEVE HOCKSTEIN
The Lonesome Prairie Dogs (from left, Lenny Kaye, Jeff Somerstein, Heidi Lieb, Steve Strunksy and Mike Dvorkin). Kenny Soule, not Somerstein, will play drums at Hank-o-Rama 21.
Starlite says that “The Lonesome Prairie Dogs have created a joyous, familial tradition with the Hank-o-Rama. It’s a fantastic, rollicking, rapturous way to begin the year — a warm, open atmosphere, filled with the magical transcendence of Hank Williams’ music and Steve and Heidi’s bountiful spirit. What a gift of a night!”
Williams’ “knack for a simple phrase, his memorable songs, and his incandescent life moved country music into its golden age and I’m proud to be a part of this annual tradition celebrating his life and artistry,” says Kaye.
At the time of his death, Williams — whose alcoholism made him an erratic concert performer — was being driven to a New Year’s Day concert in Canton, Ohio. He died of heart failure in the backseat of the car.
Promotional material for Hank-o-Rama says that it represents “a symbolic rain date for the last show Hank would ever miss.”
For information and tickets, visit ticketweb.com.
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
