November 19, 2007 12:41

Jack White works on unfinished Hank Williams songs

White Stripes helds to complete 'lost' tracks

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The White Stripes' frontman Jack White is currently working on a project to complete a series of unfinished Hank Williams songs.

Bob Dylan is co-ordinating efforts to get several artists to write and record music to accompany some of final lyrics written by the legend.

Steppin’ In It bassist Dominic Suchyta, who played on the White tracks, said: “This project started when Bob Dylan acquired the ‘lost’ Hank Williams songs.

"Essentially, (they're) the lyric sheets Hank died with in his briefcase. Jack is my oldest friend, we talk on occasion and he asked me to come down and record. Dylan had contacted him to see if he'd like to finish some of these tunes.”

White recorded the unfinished Williams song called 'You Know That I Know' at Blackbird Studios in Nashville with engineer Joe Chiccarelli.

Suchyta explained: “We did the session in one long day live in a circle with some mics around — much like Hank would have.”

He added: “No one has heard it as it was a Hank Williams lyric sheet that Jack put to music and edited a bit. Jack was sent most of or all of the unfinished tunes and picked this one to finish.

"We listened to quite a bit of Hank while I was down there and sat around the two of us playing our favorite Hank tunes, but the song was done when I got there. I think Jack just ingested a bunch of Hank Williams and this is what came out of him.”

Suchya told Paste magazine that he had heard Willie Nelson and Norah Jones were involved, but could not confirm their appearances.