Hank Williams Sr. Ringtones

Hank Williams Sr. Albums

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About Hank Williams Sr.

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. In

those four short years, he established the rules for all the country

performers that followed him and, in the process, much of popular

music. Williams wrote a body of songs that became popular classics,

and his direct, emotional lyrics and vocals became the standard for

most popular performers. Williams lived a life as troubled and

reckless as that depicted in his songs.

Hank Williams was born in Mount Olive, AL, on September 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, which

would come to provide a strong undercurrent in his songwriting.

Williams began performing around the Georgiana and Greenville

areas of Alabama in his early teens. His mother moved the family

to Montgomery, AL, in 1937, where she opened a boarding house.

In Montgomery, he formed a band called the Drifting Cowboys

and landed a regular spot on a local radio station, WSFA, in 1941.

During his shows, Williams would sing songs from his idol, Roy Acuff,

as well as several other country hits of the day. WSFA dubbed him

“the Singing Kid” and Williams stayed with the station for the rest

of the decade.

Williams met Audrey Mae Sheppard, a farm girl from Banks, AL,

in 1943 while he was playing a medicine show. The following year,

the couple married and moved into Lilly’s boarding house. Audrey

became Williams’ manager just before the marriage. By 1946, he

was a local celebrity, but he was unable to make much headway

nationally. That year, Hank Williams and Audrey visited Nashville

with the intent of meeting songwriter/music publisher Fred Rose,

one of the heads of Acuff-Rose Publishing. Rose liked Williams’

songs and asked him to record two sessions for Sterling Records,

which resulted in two singles. Both of the singles — “Never Again”

in December 1946 and “Honky Tonkin’” in February 1947 — were

successful and Williams signed a contract with MGM Records early

in 1947. Rose became the singer’s manager and record producer.

“Move It On Over,” released later in 1947, became Hank Williams’

first single for MGM. It was an immediate hit, climbing into the

country Top Five. 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.” While neither song was as successful as “Move It On Over,”

they were popular, with the latter peaking in the Top Ten. Early in

1949, he recorded “Lovesick Blues,” a Tin Pan Alley song initially

recorded by Emmett Miller and made popular by Rex Griffin. The

single became a huge hit upon its release in the spring of 1949,

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 Williams had their first child, Randall Hank, in the

spring of 1949. Also in the spring, Hank Williams assembled the

most famous edition of the Drifting Cowboys, featuring guitarist

Bob McNett, bassist Hillous Butrum, fiddler Jerry Rivers, and steel

guitarist Don Helms. Soon, he and the band were earning 1,000

dollars per concert and were selling out shows across the country.

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 (Or I’m Gonna Leave),” and “My Bucket’s 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 Tens

“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 Luke

the Drifter.

Williams continued to rack up hits in 1951, beginning with the Top

Ten hit “Dear John” and its number one flip-side “Cold Cold Heart.”

That same year, pop vocalist Tony Bennett recorded “Cold, Cold

Heart” and had a hit, leading to a stream of covers from such

mainstream artists as Jo Stafford, Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine,

Teresa Brewer, and several others. Williams had also begun 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 Minny Pearl. In

addition to “Dear John” and “Cold, Cold Heart,” Williams 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 Williams’

personal life was beginning to spin out of control. Before he became

a star, he had a mild drinking problem, but it had been more or less

controlled during his first few years of fame. However, as he began

to earn large amounts of money and spend long times away from

home, he began to drink frequently. Furthermore, Hank’s marriage

to Audrey was deteriorating. Not only were they fighting, resulting in

occasional separations, but Audrey was trying to create her own

recording career without any success. In the fall of 1951, Hank was

on a hunting trip on his Tennessee farm when he 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 of 1952, Hank and Audrey separated for a final time and

he headed back to Montgomery to live with his mother. The hits were

still coming fast for Williams, with “Honky Tonk Blues” hitting number

two in the spring. In fact, he released five more singles in 1952 —

“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 all of his success, Hank 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.

Williams left his mother in early spring, moving in with Ray Price

in Nashville. In May, Audrey and Hank were officially divorced.

She was awarded the house and their child, as well as half of his

future royalties. Williams continued to play a large number of

concerts, but he was always drunk during the show, or he missed

the gig altogether. In August, the Grand Ole Opry fired Williams

for that very reason. He was told that he could return once he was

sober. Instead of heeding the Opry’s warning, he just sank deeper

into his self-destructive behavior. Soon, his friends were leaving

him, as the Drifting Cowboys began working with Ray Price and

Fred Rose no longer supported him. Williams 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, the 19-year old daughter of a Louisiana policeman. By

October, they were married. Hank also signed an agreement to

support the baby — who had yet to be delivered — of one of his

other girlfriends, Bobbie Jett, in October. By the end of the year,

Williams 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, OH, 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 the vitamin B-12

and morphine by a doctor. Williams got into the backseat of the

Cadillac with a bottle of whiskey and the teenage chauffeur headed

out for Canton. The driver was stopped for speeding when the

policeman noticed that Williams looked like a dead man. Williams

was taken to a West Virginian hospital and he was officially declared

dead at 7:00 AM on January 1, 1953. Hank Williams had died in the

back of the Cadillac, on his way to a concert. The last single released

in his lifetime was “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive.”

Hank Williams was buried in Montgomery, AL, three days later. His

funeral drew a record crowd, larger than any crowd since Jefferson

Davis was inaugurated as the President of the Confederacy in 1861.

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 immediately 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.”

After his death, MGM wanted to keep issuing Hank Williams records,

so they took some of his original demos and overdubbed bands

onto the original recording. The first of these, “Weary Blues from

Waitin’,” was a hit but the others weren’t quite as successful. In

1961, Hank Williams was one of the first inductees to the Country

Music Hall of Fame. Throughout the ’60s, Williams’ records were

released in overdubbed versions featuring heavy strings, as well

as reprocessed stereo. For years, these bastardized versions

were the only records in print and only in the ’80s, when his music

was released on compact disc, was his catalog restored to its

original form. Even during those years when only overdubbed

versions of his hits existed, Hank Williams’ 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 Hank Williams is considered by many as the

defining figure of country music.

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