It’s still one of the biggest mysteries in country music.
It’s been more than 60 years. It’s inspired songs, books, movies, and museum exhibits. And we still don’t know exactly what happened on this date in 1953 when Hank Williams’ last ride ended.
Let’s start with what we do know.
By the time Hank Williams got into the back seat of his blue Cadillac on December 30, 1952 en route to shows in Charleston, WV and Canton, OH, his life was far from what you’d expect for the one of biggest stars in country music.
Hank was divorced from his first wife, Audrey (the mother of Hank Williams, Jr) and he had remarried just a few months earlier. He had been kicked off of the Grand Ole Opry and had been relegated to performing on the Louisiana Hayride, where he had begun his career. He was receiving morphine shots for his constant back pain and taking dangerous sedatives to help him sleep.
Hank Williams died on New Year’s Day 1953, Montgomery funeral drew 20,000 mourners
Updated Dec 31, 2020;
Posted Dec 31, 2020
This was the scene in Montgomery s Municipal Auditorium Jan. 4, 1953 as thousands filed past the open casket of singer-composer Hank Williams who died Jan. 1, 1953 at the age of 29. Several people fainted in the crush of people which fire chief R. L. Lampley estimated at nearly 20,000. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Facebook Share
Hank Williams, the 29-year-old King of Country Music, was to have flown to Charleston, West Virginia for a New Year’s Eve concert but an ice storm near Nashville kept him away.
Instead, the Georgiana native hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to perform a concert planned in Canton, Ohio. Instead, Williams died 67 years ago, on Jan. 1, 1953.