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If the content of Sorrow Bound: Hank Williams Re-Examined wasn’t so powerful, so rich in country soul, one would be tempted to say the project was cursed, coming on the heels of not one but two deaths among the albums stars.
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(Joel) Shortt and his in-house producer, local blues veteran Tim Williams, kicked off the project in November 2004 with an inspired eight-day recording session at Sundae Sound studios, featuring such acclaimed local singer-song-writers as Tom Phillips, Jane Hawley, Stewart MacDougall, Tim Williams himself, and the late Billy Cowsill.
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Another death looms over Sorrow Bound’s release as well, with the recent passing of Cowsill. The beloved rock veteran, who found international fame in the ‘60s as a member of family band The Cowsills, died less than a month ago at the age of 58, after battling for years with emphysema and osteoporosis.
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Finally, the death of Cowsill cast another shadow over the album’s release.
But Williams says the album is a work of triumph, not tragedy. It’s the fruition of Shortt’s dream, and it contains a handful of stunning tracks, including original compositions, that are among Cowsill’s final work. The tracks make for a goodbye that Cowsill would have been proud of.
“The worst thing you can do to someone who’s in chronic pain, like Billy was, is to have them sit around with nothing to do but dwell on it,” Williams say. “He was feeling bad (during the Sorrow Bound recording sessions) but you could actually watch the pain drop away when he got busy in the studio … Billy loved the studio. It was good to watch these sessions function as a sort of physical therapy for him.”
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