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| Hank Williams September 17, 1923 - January 1, 1953 |
Hiram King Williams was born in Butler County, Alabama on
September 17, 1923. His parents, Lon and Lily Williams were migrate rail road
workers who traveled with the progressing railway systems in the South. They
lived in box cars and rail road shacks until they moved to Georgiana in 1929. A
brain injury, Lon sustained in WWI, caused Lilly to have him committed to a Veterans
Hospital in Pensacola, Florida where he stayed until 1937, leaving Lilly
Williams to raise her family alone.
From the time Hiram was born, his parents noted that an unusual
deformity was present on his back. Today, doctors would understand this
condition as Spinal Bifida. This hindered him from playing sports and from being as
physically active as other children and most likely contributed to his
interest in music. As he grew older, his mother and sisters encouraged him
to learn bible hymns and play instruments. At a very young age, while living in
Georgiana, Hiram met Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne, a street musician and one-man-band.
Rufus Payne was born to slave parents in Louisiana on the Payne
Plantation. Payne later moved to New Orleans where he was influenced by the
soulful culture of the city. He shared his love of blues music with Hiram and
taught him how to play the guitar and sing.
Hiram was 16 when he dropped his given name for,
“Hank” and was playing on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama, just as his
predecessor, Tee-Tot had done in New Orleans. His mother served as his agent and
entered him in several of the local talent contests, which he won so
frequently, he was asked not to enter in order to give other contestants a
chance to win. Hank was eventually picked up by WSFA for a radio segment
called the, “The Singing Kid”. His connection to Braxton Schuffert helped him
establish his band, "The Drifting Cowboys". In 1938, Hank dropped out of school permanently
to be a full time performer and traveled all over the south with his band preforming
in shows and honky tonks.
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| Hank and Audrey Williams (Lycrecia - Audrey's daughter and Hank Williams Jr) |
In Banks, Alabama, while preforming at a medicine show, Hank
met Audrey Shepard and the two fell in love. They were married on December 15,
1944. Hank had a serious problem with alcohol; when he drank, he drank until he
induced severe depression or anger, which essentially led to the constant
fighting and replacement of band members. Hank had managed to stay sober for more than a
year prior to marrying Audrey, but while living in Andalusia, Alabama, Hank and Audrey had a huge
argument over his drinking which escalated to him throwing her out of the house. He was
arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and spent the night at the Covington
County Jail. When his friend and band member, Don Helms came to bail him out
the next morning, Hank looked smugly over at Don and asked, “What’d ya want me
to do, stand on my head?” Don paid the $30 bond and on the way out a jailer
said, “Come back and see us Hank.” And Hank replied, “You can all go to hell.”
In 1946, Sterling Records released a six-song record that
caught the attention of MGM. By 1947, Hank’s career went from mainstream radio
to one of America’s most prominent and famous country music singers. He signed
with MGM and became part of the cast of The
Louisiana Hay Ride. Hank was one hell of a performer, it was rumored that
while singing, women would fall faint and actually pass out. He also made a
name for himself due to some of his drunken behavior.
Hank continued to perform all over the south and abroad but
his drinking and womanizing would finally catch up with him in the summer of 1952.
He was denied a position at the Grand Old Opry due to drunkenness and his wife
Audrey divorced him. He had also developed some dependency to morphine during
that time, after a hunting accident aggravated his fragile back condition.
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| Hank Williams and his second wife, Billie Jean Jones Williams |
In October 1952, Hank married Billie Jean Jones, the
19-year-old daughter of a Bossier City Police Chief in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The event drew some 10,000 specters who attended the wedding as a paid event. That
December, Hank and Billie Jean attended the 8th annual party for the American
Federation of Musicians in Montgomery, Alabama at the Elite Café, where he gave
his last performance. That evening, Hank and Billie Jean had an argument and
she left him. The following month, on New Year’s Day, Hank was on his way to a
show in West Virginia. The Driver, Charles Carr, stopped for gas just near Oak
Hill Virginia and when he turned to the backseat to check on Hank, he was dead.
According to documented history, Hank visited a doctor that
week for his back and was given a morphine injection to get him through the
long car ride. Coupled with heavy drinking, this caused Hank’s death. On
January 4th, 1953 the largest funeral in Alabama history took place
at the Montgomery Auditorium for Hank Williams. He was laid to rest at the
Oakwood Cemetery Annex where he spends his eternity with his beloved Audrey.
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| Hank Williams funeral January 4, 1953 |
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| Hank Williams Jr. |
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| Shelton Hank Williams III |
His grave has long been a source of legend in Alabama as a
location frequented by his ghost. Music by Alan Jackson, David Allen Coe, and
even Hank’s son and grandson; Hank Williams Jr. and Shelton Hank Williams III,
have all written songs about this legendary spirit. His ghost has been spotted as far away as Nashville, Tennessee, where he allegedly haunts the Ryman
Theater (the former location of the Grand Old Opry), his boyhood home in
Georgiana and even the Old Covington County Jail in Andalusia.
The lost highways between Nashville and Montgomery are
littered with the stories of Hank’s ghost. Still carrying the charismatic and
charming demeanor of the man he was in life, it’s no wonder he is still so
beloved and cherished today. No amount of legacy would be complete without the
spiritual aspect of a man so prominent and influential to music and history. The
spirit of Hank Williams lives on, in song and inspiration, somewhere between
raising hell and amazing grace.
You can read more about the ghost of Hank Williams in, Haunted Montgomery Alabama by Faith Serafin
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