About Jake
??Keeping with tradition, and arguably the closest likeness to Hank Williams, Sr. on the face of the earth; meet Jake Penrod. When asked to describe himself he smiles coyly and says, “If Hank Williams Sr. and Kitty Wells had a child, I’d be him.” If if you have heard him sing, you whole heartedly agree. His music is just about as true as it gets; inspired by the deepest feeling we all share, and his songs are about real people, and for real people.
Although he lists Hank Williams Sr., Hank Jr., Webb Pierce, Ray Price, and many other icons of the 50’s and 60’s era, as his inspiration, he says it was actually Jack Penrod, his father, that “put the music in me” and “a television ad for a Hank Williams gospel album that started the whole thing.” His parents have always supported his efforts in music. “Mom hauled me all over creation to gigs and Dad taught me guitar.”
Penrod was nine years old and, until that point, had never heard what he calls “real country music” but from then on, his favorite singer and most profound influence would be Hiram Hank Williams. WithSaturday night radio shows featuring the legends of country music, and his grandparents record collections, he easily surrounded himself with sounds from the past and rejected the modern and more popular music that was all over the radio. Penrod got his first guitar for Christmas that same year but didn’t really learn to play it until age twelve; then he learned to accompany himself while singing and would spend hours in his room singing the songs he’d been hearing, and learning, over the previous three years. At age fourteen, his voice began to change and it became erratic and inconsistent. Involuntary yodeling persisted for about three years, and then during his senior year of high school it leveled out and he gained more control over the notes he sang so he joined a band as a keyboard player and backup singer. The band leader let him sing a few songs at each show and sometimes put him out front with a guitar. He earned the label “the reincarnation of Hank Williams” and not just based on his voice. He was a little taller than six feet and weighed about 120 pounds. He dressed western; vintage western, with flashy shirts, boots and a cowboy hat. His face was thin with high-set Cherokee cheekbones so he not only sounded like Hank; he looked like Hank.
Penrod joined the Gladewater Opry cast in 2005 and played in various other opry venues in Texas. His trademark, of course, was his uncanny resemblance to the King of Country Music. One audience member once told Jake that his performance gave him “duck knots” which he explained were “bigger than goose bumps and take longer to go away.” When he took part in memorial activities in Montgomery Alabama at the Hank Williams museum, he began getting recognition outside his home of East Texas. The New Year’s Eve celebration that marked the anniversary of Hank’s death was held at the museum. It was there that he met David Church, a well known tribute artist. In 2007, he received word from Church that a theatre in Buffalo, NY was producing Hank Williams: Lost Highway and they needed someone to be Hank. After submitting a CD and some photos, Penrod got a call the next day hiring him as the new Hank for a production 1600 miles from home.
Since then, Penrod has performed as Hank Williams on numerous legends tribute shows at the Gladewater Opry, Texas Star Opry, and the Louisiana Jamboree in Shreveport, LA. He has also traveled to larger concert venues outside of Texas to present his tribute to Country Music’s first superstar. He recently taped an episode of TruCountry for RFD-TV.
Aside from his ability to eerily recreate a Hank Williams performance, Penrod is also a prolific songwriter and composer who has written more than 150 country songs, three instrumentals for steel guitar, and two marches for wind band. He plays a total of thirteen instruments (more hobby than profession) and prides himself on being an audiophile, with a collection of several hundred records including many obscure titles from singers, both famous and forgotten.
Penrod is proficient on piano, organ, trumpet, guitar, harmonica, fiddle, mandolin, lap steel, pedal steel, ukulele, accordion, banjo, bass guitar/upright.
In 2009, he co-wrote Hank Williams Remembered, a tribute in story and song. He is currently touring the country performing the show with former members of Hank Thompson’s Brazos Valley Boys, Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys and Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys backing his vocals.
Hank Williams Remembered Show
Make sure to get your tickets to Jake Penrod's Hank Williams Remembered
