Hank Williams Sr. was one of the best song writers country music has ever known. Unlike many other country singers, Williams wrote most of the songs he sang. With time, his songs have become classics of American music history.

Hank Williams Sr. had to overcome numerous difficulties. Because of his father's bad health, Williams' family was very poor. His father, Lonnie was a farmer and log trim engineer, his mother, Lilly, was a church organist. When Williams was seven, his father disappeared forcing him to work selling peanuts, newspapers and shinning shoes to help support his family. By the time he was fourteen, Williams was starting a country band. His style was influenced by the sounds of gospel, Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff and the sounds of black music he had learned from a street singer, Rufus Payne, who lived in Williams's home town.

His success as a singer/songwriter can be attributed to the simplicity of his lyrics, melody and his sincerity. Hank Williams was truly a one of a kind. He was a man who could barely scribble his own name and could not read a single note of music; however, he changed the face of country music forever.

There is of course no way to evaluate this but Hank Williams probably has as much claim to being the greatest figure in country music history as anyone. He is often considered to be the greatest songwriter in its history and when he was sober he was probably one of its two or three best performers as well.

Hiram Williams was born on September 17, 1923 to Elonzo Huble Williams and Jessie Lillybelle Skipper Williams near the town of Georgianna, Alabama in the Mt. Olive Community. He had a sister named Irene and a brother who died shortly after birth.

Elonzo or "Lon" was in the logging industry. This type of life forced the family to move a lot; however, they never left Alabama. In January 1930 Lon was institutionalized in a Veteran's Hospital for "shell shock" from World War I. He would never return to the family because Lilly would file for divorce during his ten year stay. This would leave Hank without a true father figure forever.

Hank's musical experience really started at the age of three while he sat beside his mother on the organ at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church. However, he didn't begin to get serious about his musical skills until the age of eleven when he played the jazz horn. Although many people claim to have gotten Hank his first guitar, the most believeable, is that Lilly ordered him one from Sears and Roebuck for $3.50.

During the Depression someone had to be very good for a person to give them their money. Obviously, this is where Hank also picked up his talent of holding an audience in the palm of his hand.

In 1937, Williams formed his own band, the Drifting Cowboys, which played in Alabama honky tonks.This name would never change throughout his career, although the band members were different much of the time. The first group was headed by not only Hank but also Hezzy Adair. Hank was only thirteen and was regularly playing on radio station WSFA-AM in Montgomery.

After his success with the band he played local honky tonks and schoolhouses while being managed by his mother who not only booked the shows but also took the money at the door.

Writing and singing his own songs, Williams won an amateur contest in Montgomery, Alabama for his performance of "WPA Blues," which he wrote. Williams' s first years in the band where harsh. During World War II he had to quit and work as a welder in shipyards. However, after the war he went back to his true interest, music.

On the dark side of things he was also known as a problem drinker--even at fourteen. This reputation would follow him the rest of his short life.

By his twentieth year he was a grown man of a slight build standing six feet two inches tall and weighing around one hundred forty pounds. Bobby Moore, a Nashville bass player, was later quoted as saying, "Hank Williams is the only guy I ever saw who could sit back in a chair and cross his legs and still put both feet on the floor."

Soon Hank got involved singing in a medicine show where he met a woman named Audrey Mae Sheppard. They hit it off from their first meeting and were marred in Andalusia, Alabama at a filling station in December 1944.

Hank may have never achieved his stardom had it not been for Audrey. She knew he had what it took to make it in the business and never let him forget it. On September 14, 1946 she convinced him to travel to Nashville and meet with Fred Rose of Acuff-Rose Publishing.

Fred Rose could smell talent and set up a recording session with Hank and released four songs. After these were out Hank became a star around the southeast area of the United States and thought he was ready for the Opry. However, his reputation had preceded him and they wanted no part of him.

His best bet was to go to the "minor leagues" and become a regular on the Louisiana Hayride. He did so in August 1948 and was an instant success. Some believe if Hank had remained on the Hayride the Opry would have lost all of its big performers to the Hayride.

Williams got a contract with MGM Records and got his first hit "Move It on Over," which landed him a job on a radio show in Shreveport, the "Louisiana Hayride." Rose also helped Williams polish his songs to attract the pop music market.

The Williams-Rose team worked well. "Cold, Cold Heart," one of Williams's tunes, became a no. 1 country hit as well as a pop hit for Tony Benett. Roger Williams said : "It was a perfect union: Williams's native genius, Rose's craftsmanship and sure sense of the market."

On December 22, 1948 Hank recorded a song written by Irving Mills and Cliff Friend called "Lovesick Blues". This song raced to the top of the charts and stayed there. The Opry could no longer resist Hank and he debuted on June 11, 1949. He sang "Lovesick Blues," which by now had sold well and was his ticket to stardom. He recieved a standing ovation - and six encores. This had never happened before and hasn't happened since.

Williams songs were a success on the "Louisiana Hayride." "I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep," and "Lovesick Blues" were just two of the songs which earned Williams an opportunity to perform on the Grand Ole Opry. His debut, on June 11, 1949, is still considered a precious moment in country music history. Popular demand brought Williams back to the Opry and made him a regular. Williams needed a band to perform with, so he reorganized the Drifting Cowboys and added other studio musicians who traveled with him to do live performances across the U.S., Canada and even to Germany where they entertained American troops.

A year later, the demand for Williams was the highest of any other country star. Songs such as "Why Don't You Love Me?" and "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" became no. 1 hits increasing Williams's popularity even outside the country music sphere.

This was an especially happy time for Hank. He was a superstar, a regular on the Opry, and he and Audrey had a new baby,
Randall Hank Williams. Hank called him Little Bocephus after a ventriloquists dummy that was on the Opry at that time.

When Hank wanted to "preach" in his songs, he used the pseudonym "Luke The Drifter". This was done primarily for marketing purposes because jukebox owners would quickly buy something by Hank but would shy away from the "Drifter" because he moralized a bit much for honky-tonks.

Hank wrote a song called "The Two-Faced Preacher." The song was extremely controversial because in it he criticized preachers who fell short of practicing what they preached. After the song aired people were furious. He had attacked the men of the cloth. The following Monday, Hank received a petition, signed by twenty-two preachers, not to ever sing the song again. So Hank waited until Saturday at 11:30 to perform the song. After this the preachers all put in a dollar each to aid their cause. Hank accepted the twenty-two dollars and it was the first, and last, time he was paid not to sing.

Now Hank's life was turning sour. On May 29, 1952 his divorce from Audrey was final. She got custody of Little Bocephus and half of all he had as well as half he'd ever make, providing she never remarried. He also got fired, or suspended, from the Opry on August 11, 1952. From this point on Hank Williams' life was quite rocky. His drinking increased, he still missed shows and according to a few people who knew him best, he was just never the same.

Even though Hank was in a very bad shape he still did exceptionally magnificent recordings on September 23, 1952. This, his last ever recording session, he recorded, "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Kawliga," and "Take These Chains From My Heart." These were some of his greatest songs but he would never see their outcome.

Hank, now twenty-nine, married a nineteen year old beauty named Billie Jean Jones Eshliman on October 18, 1952. The next day he married her again, twice, in front of a paying audience in New Orleans.

Hank's recording life was good but seeing him live was another story. He missed shows, fell off stages and sometimes forgot words to songs because he was so drunk. His mother took him home to dry him out and was fairly successful until he received a phone call to appear in Canton, Ohio on New Year's Day.

The weather on the night of December 31 was terrible. It was freezing cold and snow was falling, but Hank decided to go anyway. He hired a college student named Charles Carr to drive him to Canton.

Williams died of a heart attack on his way to Canton, Ohio where he was to perform. He died in the back seat of his 1952 Cadillac, enroute to the engagement in Canton, Ohio on January 1st 1953. In his hands he clutched a piece of paper. On the paper were these words: "We met, we lived and dear we loved, then comes that fatal day, the love that felt so dear fades far away." Autopsy reports show he died of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. But he was probably lucky to have lived as long as he did because of a birth disorder called Spina Bifida Occulta which if not treated in childhood can be fatal. His was never treated. Williams was laid to rest in the Oakwood Annex Cemetery located in Montgomery, Alabama.

Hank died at the age of twenty-nine years, three months, and fourteen days. During his lifetime he recorded one hundred twenty-nine songs, but left a legacy near or around two hundred fifty. According to one source, over seven hundred tribute songs have been written about him.

Although he's been gone for nearly 50 years, his music still endures and has truly withstood the test of time. In fact, Hank Williams is more popular now than he was when he was alive, selling just as many records in 1998 as in 1953 and his song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" was recently named 'Country Song of the Millenium'.

Hank's funeral was on January 4, 1953 in Montgomery, Alabama. Over twenty-five thousand gathered to see him off on his final ride. After the funeral Horace Logan, an Hayride official, flew to Montgomery with Felton Pruett (one of Hank's early steel guitarists), Louisiana Hayride guitarist Dobber Johnson, and a few others. Jim Denny (who was sitting in front of Logan and who had also fired Hank from the Opry) said, "Logan, if Hank could raise up in his coffin, he'd look up toward the stage and say, 'I told you dumb sons-of-bitches I could draw more dead than you could alive.'"

Unlike other singers, Williams had a special gift, he could produce and sing beautiful songs in a sincere and honest manner that everyone could relate to. He was without a doubt, one of the greatest singers in the history of country music.

As old Hank would say, "If the good Lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise, I'll see you soon. I'll be home soon, Little Bocephus."