  Season's Greetings
Merry Xmas and Happy New Yee-Ha! from Hank
Negramiculaphiliac
"I have been a lifelong Negramiculaphiliac - an
admirer of black men wearing capes. "Read Hank's piece which harks back to when he first saw the inspirational Gene Chandler as the Duke of Earl. HERE
Hank and his Hawaiian travels...
"Peel away the sun, surf, hula and flower garlands in Hawaii, and you find cowboys – and Spam – embedded in the lifestyle." We've added Hank's recent article to the website. READ ABOUT HANK'S HAWAIIAN TRAVELS HERE
My heart attacks me out of the blue...!
Hank had a mild coronary recently - Don't worry he's doing well - and we've included a blow by blow account of his Johnny Cash Lite event. HERE
Hank has written about his trip this year to  Maui, Hawaii to find the Paniolo, the Hawaiian Cowboys. Certain that no one in the UK has ever heard of the Hawaiian cowboys, Hank has been waiting years to go over and ride with them and hear their special brand of music. He's written about them and an article will apear in the Guardian Travel section on Saturday July 23rd and simultaneously in Guardian Online (the largest online newspaper in the world after the New York Times).
That same day, July 23rd, Hank will appear on BBC Radio 4's Excess Baggage at 10 am.
If you miss it then you can catch up with BBC iPlayer or download it as a podcast. Later we will post the article and other Hawaiian thoughts from Hank here on Hank's Trails.
Kylie Ramone (!) seems to be working overtime and sticking footage on to YouTube as fast as she can get hold of them. Latest is a clip of Hank and the Lost Cowboys playing the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival in good ol' 1984. Catch 'em HERE.
We've added a few images of Bill Pickett which had been put out by the US Mail in 1993. "Click the Bill Pickett picture to see more photos. Sadly, the US Mail got it wrong, and the image is not of Bill himself but his brother. And it wasn't Wilson."
Hank is the cover face for The Hat Magazine latest issue. As a compulsive hat wearer and newly honoured Patron of the Bridport Hat Festival, Hank is pleased and proud. He is happy, too, to see that at last more British citizens are becoming hat-aware again. Here he is wearing a black straw Rancher cowboy classic from Western Express of Bridgeville PA. He bought the hatband in Conway Texas, inspiration to Harold Jenkins for his new stage name Conway Twitty which makes Hank Wangford seem normal by comparison. The band was made by local Comanche Indians using Indian conchos and ersatz bone. Check out The Hat Magazine and Mr Snook in Links.
This November Hank will turn 70 before his time so the rest of the world can feel twenty years younger. He will celebrate his 70th birthday weekend with two very special gigs.
In West London on Sunday 14th November he will be at the Half Moon Putney for his Birthday Prequel and on Monday 15th November Hank will celebrate his Actual Birthday in his homeland North London at the O2 Academy in Islington. On both nights he will have a clutch of special guests joining the Lost Cowboys to help him through the pain of three score and ten. The legendary Brad Breath – Andy Roberts – will be yodelling into your hearts and offering you a Glimpse of Gloom on both nights. Despite the party atmosphere and whatever guests turn up Hank pledges as always to keep the proceedings miserable. And Keep It Country!
Hank & Brad's No Hall 2 Small tour of Dorset, Shropshire & Herefordshire was a great success, with packed out and enthusiastic audiences. More are planned, so keep tuned in to this website. In the meantime we've added a few photos from a recent gig. HERE
Hank Wangford & Brad Breath kick off their nationwide (Dorset - the county) tour this weekend with several No Hall 2 Small gigs. Catch them at Puddletown, Ibberton, and Wootton Fitzpaine over the weekend. We have a taster for all you fans of misery HERE.
FLY WORLDWIDE WITH HANK! British Airways has now added the complete
album, "Whistling in the Dark" on all its long haul flights both Transatlantic to the USA and Canada and the Far East and Australia - Hank is flying high....
Hank will appear on GMTV's 'This Morning'  show tomorrow morning (Monday 2nd August) as judge and jury for a Celebrity Cowpat Flinging contest. Hank, of course, is one of the countries leading experts and once officiated at Edinburgh Festival with the Hank Wangford $incere Product$ International Pro Celebrity Cowpat Flinging Contest with Billy Bragg (see photo). You can catch 'This Morning' at 10.30 on ITV.
The Maverick Festival coming up this Friday (2nd July - now passed), is offering SPECIAL FRIDAY-DAY TICKETS exclusive to Hank fans for £15! Held at Easton Farm Park
in Suffolk, the Guardian newspaper recently voted the Maverick Festival one of its TOP TEN best small festivals. So get along to Easton Farm Park and listen to Hank Wangford and the Lost Cowboys in full English sunshine. More info here...
The Guardian recently voted the Maverick Festival, at Easton Farm Park
in Suffolk, one of its TOP TEN Best Small Festivals. Get yourself down there and catch Hank & The Lost Cowboys who will be headlining this year’s Friday night at this prestigious and ever friendly Festival. More info here...
New additions to the site are both sides to Hanks single from 1968 when he was recording under the name of Boeing Duveen and the Beautiful Soup. The tracks are the A-side, 'Jabberwock' and the B-side 'Which Dreamed it'. The single is one of RECORD COLLECTOR'S Top One Hundred psychedelic recordings of all time. We also have the tracks 'Anyway' and 'Lizzie' which Hank recorded with The Bhundu Boys, the Zimbabwean Jit band, in 1992. The tracks are from the album 'Friends on the Road', released in 1993. Listen to all HERE.
The Academy in Islington is offering tickets for Wangford fans for half price. So if you want to come next Saturday to see Hank and the Lost Cowboys with the Tennessee Three follow the link below and give them the password "hankie". That way you'll be able to buy your way in for £10 and not £20! This is for Wangford fans only. That's you! HERE'S THE LINK..... PS: Hank and the Cowboys take to the stage at 7.15 - so get there early!!
This month's 'Song Of The Month' is the man himself with The Lost Cowboys from way back in 1983 playing at the Peterborough Festival of Country Music. Hank and the Cowboys are playing "Cowboys Stay On Longer". CLICK HERE TO SAMPLE SOME STONKIN' MUSIC.
It’s quiet times for Hank & The Lost Cowboys. We’re all separately busy with Martin and Kevin just back from extensive Swedish touring with Ducks Deluxe and along with BJ soon going to the Isle of Man. BJ is playing amongst others with Brian Eno around the country and Hank is still struggling with his “No Hall Too Small” book.
The great news is that after an upswelling of local opinion and a takeover by Carrie and Jamie the Half Moon Putney has been reprieved. So last December’s gig was not our last. Tribute bands will be given the bum’s rush and a new forward looking booking policy is in place. Friday nights - our night for a while – is now indie band and DJing night until two in the morning. We are moving to Sundays which will be at the normal time, playing until eleven and not closing early.
So everyone on the London music scene is delighted that for once the inevitable march of accountants, auditors and gastropubs has been diverted and one of London’s historic music venues (Rolling Stones, Who, U2, KD Lang, Ralph McTell etc etc) continues to thrive.
We've added a new feature to the site. You can take a peep at Hank's 'Song Of The Month' here. This month the featured artists Floyd Tillman with Hank Garland "Slipping Around". We'll be adding new videos of Hank and the Lost Cowboys soon, so keep tuned!
Hank sends his New Year thoughts to all website visitors, with his latest blogeen. For the uninitiated, a Bloggeen is a shortened version of a Blog (Of course it is)!! Read it here at HankWangford.com/newsletter.
Since having been divorced by Reg Meuross in the summer of 2009 Hank has joined up with his old musical buddy and saddlepal Brad Breath aka Andy Roberts. Together they will come back to the rural arts touring round village halls that Hank loves so much and will do the smaller gigs that are too small or low paid for the whole Lost Cowboys posse. Big and small we love them all and will find a format to suit your venue. Misery and melody, raw emotion and open ribcages will continue to be our trademark whatever form we take. Hank will forever be the High Prince of Pain and offer his unique Glimpse of Gloom whoever he is playing with. Divorce, a double edged knife, brings sadness and pain mixed with overwhelming joy and Hank as a new divorcee looks forward to meeting and greeting more of life's rejects out on the never ending road. Keep Yodelling through it all! CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE NEW HANK & BRAD PAGE!!
The Half Moon in Putney is closing in January 2010. It seems the brewery wants to convert it to a gastropub, smarten it up and stop it being a music venue. So big news for us is SUNDAY 20 IS OUR LAST GIG EVER AT THE HALF MOON. Come and sob uncontrollably with us. Christmas is as always a time for tears and knife in the heart sadness. So join Hank & Martin & Kevin & BJ & Roy for the final Half Moon. LATEST: The Half Moon is SAVED!!!
Hank is pleased to announce that after lots of requests, HankWangford.com now includes lyrics to a handful of his songs. We'll be adding more and more over the next few months, so STAY TUNED!. See Hank's lyrics here.
Dear Friends,
Delighted to report, from jet setting Wanglisters, that British Airways are still featuring the whole of “Whistling In The Dark” as their chosen Country album on their long haul Transatlantic flights to the USA and Canada. No wonder their profits have been slashed. Read more of Hank's newsletter here
The distribution company for "Whistling in the Dark" has completely sold out of the first run of Hank's 
FLY TRANSATLANTIC HANK! British Airways has now added the complete
album, "Whistling in the Dark" on its long haul Transatlantic flights to the USA and Canada.
AOL have destroyed Hank's email account for no reason. wangford99@aol.com is no more. To contact Hank for bookings, mailing list enquiries and such go to the guestbook here on the website or email hankwangford@gmail.com. The AOL account is a black hole and you will get no response. Hank warns "Stay away from AOL. They are dangerous and unreliable."
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Hank Wangford and the Lost Cowboys won't be appearing at this year's Maverick Festival, but Hank and the Band will be at the Festival in 2010. You can grab your tickets for this year's event from the Maverick website.
FLY TRANSATLANTIC HANK! British Airways has recently added Hank's new
In the latest edtion of Country Music People (April 09) Hank talks about Cannabis, Communism, & Country Music. We've loaded a copy here for you....
We've added a gallery of Hank's collection of hats, entitled 'Hank's Hattery'. Take a peek under the rim here....
Hank's email account with AOL has died a death and we are in the process of reconfiguring a new address. In the meantime, if patrons, record company barons and promoters would like to get in touch, please use the guestbook.
Do you remember FRAY BENTOS? Read about Hank's visit to Fray Bentos land and how it fed the whole of Britain and the free Europe during the Second World War! here
Hank and the Lost Cowboys have recorded a session for Mark Lamarr's "God's Own Jukebox". They have recorded five songs, four from Whistling in the Dark and Nothing Left from Best Foot Forward. There will be a version of Jealousy from Whistling on the BBC website for a full month from 28th February. The other tracks, along with chat with the Lost Cowboys and a selection of their choices of inspirational tracks, will be on Mark's Jukebox on BBC Radio 2 at midnight on Friday 27th into Saturday morning until 3 o'clock. For the elderly and infirm Wangford fan and the Wangford diaspora overseas the whole programme will be available on the Internet on the BBCs Listen Again service on www.bbc.co.uk for a full week after the programme.
We have added a video of a track, 'Which Dreamed it' which was the flipside of a single put out by Hank in 1968 (then recording under the name of Boeing Duveen). The single is one of RECORD COLLECTOR'S Top One Hundred psychedelic recordings of all time. 1968 was only two years before Hank discovered Country Music with Gram Parsons in 1970 and his whole world changed! Check it out here>>
Record Collector places Hank's album Whistling in the Dark on it's 'MOST WANTED' list. See it here>>
Country Music People give Whistling in the Dark a review... Read it here>>
Read this Hymm of praise to small things... Here>>
The latest edition of MOJO has Hank's 'Little Bird' as No.6 on it's TOP TEN playlist!!!
"It's a classily performed set..." Review from the GUARDIAN. Read it here>>
"He is though, and has been for many years, the best British pure country music musician out there...." Read it here>>
Maverick reviews Hank's new album Whistling in the Dark and give it a review. Read the reviews here>>
 Hank's new CD, recorded with the Lost Cowboys: Whistling in the Dark is now available at gigs and in all good record shops!
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videos and audio of early Hank Wangford bands (including Boeing Duveen) and the current band 