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Hank Williams

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On a warm night in June, 1949, with his first number one record spilling out of radios across the country, a frail young man walked onto the stage of Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for his Grand Ole Opry debut. Behind him lay nearly a decade of struggle and rejection in pursuit of this goal; ahead, a little more than five years in the limelight.

By 1953, literally worn out at twenty-nine, Hank Williams was gone. But he had given country music much of its standard repertoire, a new definition of stardom and a legend so enduring that he is still the model for countless singers and songwriters.

Born in Mount Olive West, Alabama (near Georgiana) on September 17th, 1923, Hiriam was the second child of Lon and Lillie Williams. Lon, a WWI veteran, was hospitalized during most of Hank’s early life, leaving the boy’s upbringing to his strong-willed mother. Small and fragile from the beginning (and afflicted with spina bifida), Hank may well have gravitated toward music as an alternative to sports. While living in Georgiana, he befriended Rufus Payne, a black street musician known as “Tee-Tot”.

Years later, Hank would say that Payne had given him “all the music training I ever had”, and most biographers consider Payne the source of the noticeable blues thread running through Hank’s music. Hear a sample of “Long Gone Lonesome Blues”

At sixteen, living in Montgomery, Williams quit school and began his music career in earnest. He had made his first radio appearance on WSFA in late 1936 or early 1937, and would soon become one of the station’s most popular performers. He also worked beer joints and regional shows with his band, already named the Drifting Cowboys.
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