Columbia

There are few surprises in the lyrics found with Hank Williams at his death, save for the heartache and broadly communicable oblivion that made him one of the greatest songwriters in history. In fact, the new songs made from the old words by Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard, Levon Helm and others probably couldn’t have been set to music in any other way – lyrics so direct that their unwritten changes seemed destined. Fine performances abound, including Norah Jones (with an under-billed Gillian Welch and David Rawlings ) on “How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart,” Dylan’s bordertown “Faded Love” and Jack White’s comically-vibrattoed “You Know that I Know.” One can only dream of the all-Dylan album that it was originally intended as, but these all-stars ain’t half bad.