R.I.P. Atlanta writer Paul Hemphill
July 11, 2009 at 11:22 am by Mara Shalhoup in News
Atlanta author Paul Hemphill, a celebrated columnist for the Atlanta Journal and the author of a popular biography of Hank Williams, died today at the age of 73, from cancer that had spread from his mouth to his lungs.
According to his AJC obit:
As a columnist and author, Hemphill entranced readers chronicling the blue-collar South. He wrote about stock cars and country music, church burnings and church evangelists. His 15 books, including nonfiction work and novels, reverberated with all the twang and tears of a Hank Williams tune.
UPDATE: JKelly writes in the comments that Hemphill’s “memorial will be [held] at A.S. Turner & Sons in Decatur. Visitation is Tuesday July 14 from 6-8PM, and the service is Wednesday July 15 at Noon.”
In a 2005 profile of Hemphill, former Creative Loafing Senior Editor Doug Monroe opened with a moving anecdote of the talented writer:
Paul Hemphill lifts the chewed-up piece of Nicorette gum out of his mouth and sticks it in a paper napkin. This is a man who used to fire up 20 of those mean little nonfiltered Camels a day and now he chews pellets of doped-up gum. It is an indignity.
Hemphill is at Manuel’s Tavern on a Tuesday night — government-in-exile night — with Democratic politicos, cops and ex-newspapermen. He’s at a big round table with his wife, Susan Percy, and a circle of friends. They’re passing around an early copy of his new book, Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams. They’re all pulling for it to be a hit.
Hemphill is 69, recovering from a stroke, his face pale and gaunt. But you look at the book cover and then at him. You can see a bit of the late Hank Williams in his new biographer. The resemblance is uncanny: Two boys rising up out of blue-collar Alabama, born 13 years apart, both with big ears, both 6-1, 150 pounds, with a tendency to shrink into the 130s when the booze kicked in. And, boy, did the booze kick in.
Continue reading “Hemphill’s return” …
(Photo by Jim Stawniak)
July 11th, 2009 at 11:45 am
The South has lost a favorite son.
July 11th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I had the great pleasure of working with Mr. Hemphill at an event during the Decatur Book Festival a few years ago. He was a lover of life and all things Southern, and his words captured the tragic beauty of Dixie that is so often overlooked. He is now at the big racretrack, watching the good ol’ boys stir up the dust, and sharing a fifth with Hank. RIP
July 11th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Sad day indeed. I worked with Paul briefly in the summer of 2005. A Cappella books in L5P repressed his 1970 book, “The Nashville Sound.” I was hired to write a one-sheet for it, and that book really changed my perspectives on the artists he chronicled and the music in general. To this day “The Nashville Sound” is still one of my favorites. He was a great man and a true inspiration for me.
July 12th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
The memorial will be at A,S. Turner & Sons in Decatur. Visitation is Tuesday July 14 from 6-8PM, and the service is Wednesday July 15 at Noon.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:10 am
You knew demons and dissappointment. You weathers storms and in the end remained dignified.
I hope you R.I.P.