Down Life's Highway

Part Two of Two

Hank Williams was born in Mount Olive, Alabama on Sept. 17, 1923. When he was eight years old, Williams was given a guitar by his mother. His musical education was provided by a local blues street singer, Rufus Payne, who was called Tee Tot. From Tee Tot, Williams learned how to play the guitar and sing the blues. Williams began performing around Georgia and Greenville areas of Alabama in his early teens. During his shows Williams would sing songs from his idol Roy Acuff, as well as several other country hits of the day. Hank Williams is the father of contemporary country music. Williams was a superstar by the age of 25. He was dead at the age of 29. Williams wrote a body of songs that became popular classics and his direct, emotional lyrics and vocals became the standard for most popular performers. Hank lived a life as troubled and reckless as that depicted in his songs. Hank met Audrey Mae Sheppard, a farm girl from Banks, Alabama, in 1943, while he was playing a medicine show. The following year the couple married. Audrey became Hank’s manager just before the marriage. By 1946, Hank was a local celebrity but he was unable to make much headway nationally. That year Hank and Audrey visited Nashville. Fred Rose, one of the heads of Acuff-Rose Publishing, liked Hank’s songs and asked him to record two sessions for Sterling Records that resulted in two singles. Both of the singles, “Never Again” and “Honky Tonkin” were successful and Hank signed a contract with MGM Records in early 1947. Rose became the singer’s manager and record producer. “Move It on Over,” released later in 1947, became Hank William’s first single for MGM. By the summer of 1948, he had joined the Louisiana Hayride, appearing both on its tours and radio programs. “Honky Tonkin” was released in 1948, followed by “I’m A Long Gone Daddy.” Early in 1949, he recorded “Lovesick Blues.” The single became a huge hit, staying at number one for 16 weeks and crossing over into the pop Top 25. Williams sang the song at the Grand Ole Opry, where he performed an unprecedented six encores. He had become a star. Hank and Audrey had their first child, Randall Hank, in the spring of 1949. Williams had no fewer than seven hits in 1949 after “Lovesick Blues,” including the top fives, “Wedding Bells,” “Mind Your Own Business,” “You’re Gonna Change,” and “My Buckets Got a Hole in It.” In addition to having a string of hit singles in 1950--including the number ones- -”Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” “Why Don’t You Love Me,” and “Moanin’ the Blues,” as well as the top ten’s “I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Livin,” “My Son Calls Another Man Daddy,” “They’ll never Take Her Love From Me,” “Why Should We Try,” and “Nobody’s Lonesome for Me.” That same year, Williams began recording a series of spiritual records under the name of Luke the Drifter. Hank continued to rack up hits in 1951, beginning with “Dear John” and its flip-side, “Cold Cold Heart.” He began to experience the fruits of crossover success appearing on the Perry Como television show and being part of a package tour that also featured Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Minnie Pearl. He had several other hits in 1951, including the number one “Hey Good Lookin” and “Howlin at the Moon,” “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You,)” “Crazy Heart,” “Lonesome Whistle,” and “Baby, We’re Really in Love” which all charted in the Top Ten. Though his professional career was soaring, Hank William’s personal life was beginning to spin out of control. Hank’s marriage to Audrey was deteriorating. In the fall of 1951, while on a hunting trip on his Tennessee farm Hank tripped and fell, re-activating a dormant back injury. Williams began taking morphine and other pain killers for his back and quickly became addicted. In January, 1952, Hank and Audrey separated for a final time. The hits were still coming fast for Williams however with “Honky Tonk Blues” which was number two in the spring. In fact he released five more singles that year. “Half As Much,” “Jambalaya,” “Settin the Woods on Fire,” “You Win Again,” and “I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive’-which all went Top Ten. In spite of his success, he turned completely reckless in 1952, spending nearly all of his waking hours drunk and taking drugs, while he was frequently destroying property and playing with guns. Audrey and Hank were officially divorced. He was still playing the Louisiana Hayride but he was performing with local pickup bands and was earning reduced wages. That fall, he met Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar. By October, they were married. She later married Johnny Harden, then Hugh Lea, an Orange attorney, after Harden was killed in an auto accident. Also in October Hank signed an agreement to support a baby--yet to be delivered-of one of his girlfriends, Bobbie Jett. By the end of the year, he was having heart problems and Toby Marshall, a con-man doctor, was giving him various prescription drugs to help soothe the pain. Hank Williams was scheduled to play a concert in Canton, Ohio, on January 1, 1953. He was scheduled to fly out of Knoxville, TN, on New Year’s Eve but the weather was so bad he had to hire a chauffeur to drive him to Ohio in his new Cadillac. Before they left for Ohio, Williams was injected with two shots of Vitamin B-12 and morphine by a doctor. Williams got in the backseat of the Cadillac with a bottle of whiskey and the teenage chauffeur headed out for Canton. The driver was stopped for speeding and the officer noticed that Williams looked like a dead man. Williams was officially declared dead at 7 a.m. on January 1, 1953. The last single released in his lifetime was “I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive.” Hank Williams was buried three days later. His funeral drew a record crowd. Dozens of country music stars attended as did Audrey Williams, Billie Jean Jones and Bobbie Jett, who happened to give birth to a daughter three days later. “I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive” reached number one after his death and it was followed by a number of hit records throughout 1953, including the number ones “Your Cheatin heart,” “Kaw-Liga” and “Take These Chains from My Heart.” Hank William’s impact never diminished. His songs have become classics, his recordings have stood the test of time and his life story is legendary. It’s easy to see why he is considered by many as the defining figure of country music.

My teenage years were marked by Hank as I started Down Life’s Highway.

These two country giants, Acuff and Hank, took me from childhood to adulthood and here I am at age 90, still connected to them by their music.

From time to time, I get Alexa to play their catalog of music I started listening to on the Louisiana Hayride and Grand Ole Opry on my battery radio.