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Seeing the light

Fifty-five years after his death, the legacy of country singer Hank Williams is being revived

BY TOM UHLENBROCK

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The phone was busy with well-wishers calling on his 81st birthday, but Don Helms took time to retrieve his steel guitar from the back bedroom and play some of country music's most famous songs.

The house was filled with the sweet sound of Helms' still nimble fingers picking out each note. His wife of 63 years, Hazel, came in from the living room to enjoy the impromptu performance.

A sad story accompanied most of the sad songs, like the one about the last recording of "Your Cheatin' Heart" in September 1952.

"Hank said, 'Don, give me an intro,' and I did," Helms recalled. "We played it through without a mistake, and we never played it together again -- and I never saw him alive again."

Helms is the last of the Drifting Cowboys, the band that backed Hank Williams during the meteoric rise that began with his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry in June 1949 and burned out in the early-morning hours of Jan. 1, 1953, when Williams died in the backseat of his baby-blue Cadillac convertible at age 29.

Williams was country's first superstar, although his reign was brief. But 55 years after his death, 2008 is shaping up to be another big revival for the legend, which comes complete with tales of dominating women, drinking binges and pill popping to ease chronic back pain.

Among this year's Hank Williams highlights:

• In late March, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville opened "Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy." The exhibit, which runs through December next year, depicts the relationships that inspired Williams and his progeny "to create songs that stand among the greatest, most influential country music ever recorded," the museum said.

• The state of Alabama is promoting the Hank Williams Trail with brochures and maps that take you from Williams' birthplace at Mount Olive and his boyhood home at nearby Georgiana, north on his "Memorial Lost Highway" to Montgomery, where he lived, performed and was buried.

• Hank Williams Tours in April began motor coach trips that visit the Hank Williams Boyhood Home & Museum, the grave and the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Ala., where Joe Jones, a Hank Williams look-alike, will perform during dinner.

• Preparations are under way for the release of more than 100 recordings Williams made in 1951 and 1952 in Nashville for a WSM radio show sponsored by Mother's Best Flour. Williams' children, Hank Williams Jr. and Jett Williams, won a lengthy court battle with recording companies over the fate of the music. More than 40 of the songs never were released commercially.

• Williams also has a stepdaughter, Lycrecia Williams Hoover, and her book with co-author Dale Vinicur -- titled "Still in Love with You!" --came out in a revised 20th anniversary edition in April. The book is published by Audrey's Dream Inc., a nonprofit corporation founded by the two authors to honor Williams and his first wife, Audrey.

Helms, for one, is not surprised that the legacy lives on.

"He did have a drinking problem; it cost him his career, and maybe his life," he said. "Whatever drugs he took were prescription drugs from his doctor. He took more than he should. He thought that if one did you good, two would do you better. We didn't know about mixing drugs and alcohol in those days.

"But he just left such an impact on people's lives -- they're not ready to forget it. They won't forget the music and the man who made the music. That's where I fit in -- I'm the only one left."

Helms continued his own playing with Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash and a total of 56 members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. His suburban ranchhouse is filled with music memorabilia, including the plaques that inducted Helms into seven halls of fame. Ol' Red, the nickname Helms gave his Gibson double neck console grand guitar, is forever immortalized in songs such as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "You Win Again" and "Cold, Cold Heart."

That last sad song came with one of the saddest stories.

Hank and Audrey had a stormy relationship.

During one tragic episode, Audrey was pregnant with Hank's child but was angry because she believed he was cheating on her. She had an abortion at their home without his knowledge. When Hank returned from touring, he found Audrey in a hospital with an infection from the procedure. He took her flowers, but she threw them in his face. Hank went home, alone, and wrote these words:

"In anger unkind words are said that make the teardrops start

"Why can't I free your doubtful mind, and melt your cold, cold heart."

Gospel and blues were in Hank's background. His song, "I Saw the Light," remains one of gospel's rollicking best and he recorded religious narratives under the pseudonym Luke the Drifter.

There is another bit of living history in the legend of Hank Williams.

Charles Carr was a 17-year-old freshman at Auburn University, home for the Christmas holidays, when his father asked him to serve as driver for a friend. Carr was behind the wheel of the Cadillac convertible the night Williams died.

Williams was at the end of his rope. He had been fired from the Grand Ole Opry for missing appearances; an operation to fuse his spine had left him in agony; Audrey had divorced him for the second time and he was remarried to a young brunette beauty named Billie Jean Jones, but they were said to have had a fight over Christmas.

On Sunday, Dec. 28, 1952, Williams sang four songs for members of the American Federation of Musicians' Local 470 at their annual party in Montgomery.

Carr was later hired to drive Williams from Montgomery to Canton, Ohio, where the singer had a New Year's Day appearance scheduled. A few miles outside Oak Hill, W.Va., Carr said he stopped at a gas station and checked on Williams.

"Hank was asleep in the backseat, covered with a blanket," Carr said. "I moved his hand, and felt some resistance, which I didn't think was natural. I told the attendant I might have a problem. He said Oak Hill General Hospital was eight miles down the road. I pulled into the rear. Two interns came out and checked him. They said he was dead."

An autopsy determined Williams suffered a massive heart attack.

Five days after his death, Williams' former girlfriend, Bobbie Jett, gave birth to their daughter. In that year, three Hank Williams songs hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The lyrics to another unfinished song were among the personal effects recovered from the Cadillac. A song fragment found on the floor ended with these words:

"Tonight we both are all alone, and here's all I can say

"I love you still and always will, but that's the price you have to pay."

IF YOU GO

HANK WILLIAMS TOURS: The two-day Alabama tour is $199 a person, based on double occupancy, and $236 for a single. The optional third day in Nashville is $95 a person and includes a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and "Family Tradition" exhibit, backstage tour of Ryman Auditorium and a tour of Historic RCA Studio B. (866-964-4265 or hankwilliamstours.com) The cost includes meals, lodging, transportation and admissions.

HANK WILLIAMS FESTIVAL: The 29th annual festival will be June 6-7 at Hank Williams Music Park in Georgiana, Ala. Among the performers will be Jett Williams, Brad Magness, Shenandoah, T.G. Sheppard, George Hamilton IV and Aaron Tippin. Weekend advance tickets are $30. (334-376-2396 or e-mail cityofgeorgianacenturytel.net)

HANK WILLIAMS BOYHOOD HOME & MUSEUM: At 127 Rose Street in Georgiana, Ala. Admission is $3. (334-376-2555)

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM: "Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy" runs through December next year. Vintage audio and video clips are throughout the exhibit. Admission to the museum is $19.95 for adults and $12.95 for youths. The programs are free with admission. (615-416-2001 or countrymusichalloffame.com)

HANK WILLIAMS MUSEUM MONTGOMERY: The museum is at 118 Commerce Street. The museum marks Williams' birthday each Sept. 17 with a weekend celebration and collectors' fair. Admission is $8. (334-262-3600 or thehankwilliamsmuseum.com)

HANK WILLIAMS TRAIL: To get a brochure with maps call 800-252-2262 or hankwilliams-trail.com).

St. Louis Post-Dispatch