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NEW FEATURE  Click here for song clips! |
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JUKEBOX CLIP
 1951 |
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September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953
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Father of Modern Country Music
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CMF
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Les Leverett
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| LEFT: Hank Williams received his start on the Louisiana Hayride radio show in 1948 and soon became the most popular star of The Grand Ole Opry and one of America's most beloved entertainers. CENTER: His funeral in 1953 was the biggest event in Montgomery, Alabama since the death of Confederate President Jefferson Davies. RIGHT: Although he could neither read nor write music, Hank Williams wrote about 150 songs that helped take Country music from its rural setting and put it into the jukeboxes and living rooms of middle America. | ||
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Click here to listen to a profile of Hank Williams song clips! |
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Hiram 'Hank' Williams
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| America lost its innocence after World War II, and so did Country music. Sentimental and nostalgic lyrics yielded to the more contemporary themes of Honky Tonk – most notably drinkin' and cheatin'. |
| This was the stuff of Honky Tonk, and Hank Williams – "The Drifting Cowboy" – was its most successful artist. Hank sang about what he knew best – loneliness and heartbreak. |
| His songs – almost autobiographical – document the 6-year journey of a very lonely man trying to reconcile love through the bottom of a bottle. His plaintive lyrics soon transcended Country music and tugged at the heartstrings of middle America. |
| Because of the universality of his music, as attested by its success on the Pop charts, Hank Williams was one of the first three nominees, along with Jimmie Rodgers and Fred Rose, to be inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame when it was established at Nashville in 1961. |
| He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. |
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click here for Hank Williams timeline |
| click here for Hank Williams song clips |
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