Joe Matheson wasn?t a Hank Williams über-fan when he was asked to play the legendary singer in the play ?The Show He Never Gave? after someone else dropped out of the show. In just three days he learned the part, consisting of many long speeches, and about 20 different songs and garnered rave reviews along the way.

Matheson says he took two things away from that experience: he learned he had the vocal ability to portray Hank Williams in a realistic way and he fell in love with the character.

Thus began a fascination with the singer that has taken Matheson to Nashville for research and all over Canada to perform, and will bring him into Cranbrook this Wednesday, Oct. 6 with the show ?Hank Williams ?Live? 1952,? which he wrote and plays Williams in. Cranbrook is the show?s one B.C. stop as he is in Whitehorse the day before the Cranbrook performance and leaves for Alberta right afterward.

In talking to Matheson it becomes obvious he has a passion and respect for Williams that is sure to come through in his performance and make for an excellent show for everyone, not just Hank Williams fans.

Matheson said in writing ?Hank Williams ?Live? 1952? he wanted to portray the singer in a different light than he is usually shown.

?I had the feeling there was more laughter and light to this guy than everybody?s always talking about. All people want to talk about is, he got divorced from his wife, he had bad health and he drank all the time and it ruined his life. There: that?s the Hank Williams story,? he said. ?But he had great friends and he loved being on stage. People used to say he was the best performer live of any of them and he wrote songs that really changed the way we think of popular music. Other shows are always other people talking about Hank, and my show is Hank talking about everyone else.

?People are always surprised the show is so funny but Hank was always joking on stage.?

?Hank Williams ?Live? 1952? is set just a few months before Williams died but when his life was getting back on track. He had started performing again, stopped drinking and got re-married.

?I wanted to set the show in that period, I wanted to try and recreate the feeling of what it must have been like to go see Hank Williams play live as opposed to listen to a bunch of old sad stories about what a bum he was,? Matheson said. ?I talk about some of the problems Hank had in his life but I set the show in a time when things were actually looking pretty good for him. The problems he had were all in the past.?

One thing Matheson likes to say of the show is that it isn?t a true story, but all the stories he tells are true.

?I can?t name you all of the songs Hank recorded, or I can?t tell you who was in his band every year. I?m not one of those kinds of experts, but I?ve read just about everything that has been written about the man. Not so much the songs or the music or times and dates but I?ve gone through all the archives of the local newspapers when he was still alive and just after he died,? he said. ?I?ve spoken to people who worked with him, spoken to people who saw him perform, spoken to people who actually performed with him and I?ve got a feeling I know him pretty damn well. I have a huge amount of admiration for him. I think he was an incredibly sad and tortured person who could have shut down completely and instead decided to try putting it all, and not just pain but a lot of it was questions, to music.?

Matheson said some of the highest compliments he?s been given have come from people who aren?t country music fans who still really enjoyed the show.

?You guys are going to have a good time if it kills me. And they always do,? he said. ?I have to say we get a pretty good reception everywhere we go, I don?t mind saying that. I?ve got a great band and it?s a damn good show.?

Tickets for ?Hank Williams ?Live? 1952? on Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. are available at the Key City Theatre box office.