originally posted by SFJoe:
Pulitzer for Hank Williams?As Eric Asimov first brought to my attention, the Pulitzer Prize committee gave Hank Williams a posthumous award today. He proposes Melville and Shakespeare as other overlooked artists who might be deserving.
My queries:
1) Who should they recognize before Melville and Bill?
2) What got into their fool heads to do this?
Old Will S is not eligible, even for the postumous "special citation" that they gave HW. From the rules: "Except in the case of drama, where production rather than publication shall be the criterion, eligibility for these awards shall be restricted to works first published in the United States during the year and made available in hardcover or bound paperback form for purchase by the general public."
And this from their press release about the Citation to HW:
The Board, chaired by Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of the Miami Herald, made the award after a confidential survey of experts in popular music.
The citation, above all, recognizes the lasting impact of Williams as a creative force that influenced a wide range of other musicians and performers, said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. At the same time, the award highlights the Boards desire to broaden its Music Prize and recognize the full range of musical excellence that might not have been considered in the past.
In recent years, the Board has awarded several other Special Citations in music: To jazz composers Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane in 2006 and 2007 and to composer and singer Bob Dylan in 2008.
Williams, who died in 1953 at age 29, was noted for writing and singing songs that reflected the hopes and struggles of everyday Americans, and his compositional skill and fusion of genres, experts say, became the measure by which country music is judged. Among his most famous songs are the standards Your Cheatin Heart, Cold Cold Heart, Im So Lonesome I Could Cry and Jambalaya.
Seems pretty convincing to me.
