The warm sunshine in Montgomery Alabama on 14th Sept. 2013 bore little resemblance to the night Hank Williams died. It was unseasonably cold that day ( December 31st 1952) as a snow storm covered the entire southeastern United States. Admittedly it was a different time of year, but still hard to imagine.
We had arrived in Montgomery 2 nights earlier intending to take part in the Hank birthday celebrations organized by the Hank Williams museum. Having already visited part of the museum and other Hank sites such as Chris's Hot Dogs (Hank's favourite eatery) and the Municipal auditorium (where the largest funeral Montgomery had ever seen was held), this Saturday morning we were preparing to attend the first "official" function - the laying of a wreath at Hank's gravesite in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex.
Our pre-ordered cab was waiting punctually outside our hotel (the Hampton Inn, which boasts a "Hank Williams suite") and we were duly transported to the burial site. The crowd was somewhat smaller than I had expected, but I reasoned that the 60 years that had passed since his death may have impacted on his fan base. As the crowd waited, a group of musicians put in the final preparations for their performance. I was to discover later this was the Sheppard family band, the leader of which was a second cousin once removed from Audrey Mae Sheppard -- Hank's first wife. The operator of the museum, Jeff Petty, gave an introductory speech about Hank's life and influence and the semiannual gatherings in Montgomery. My response to his request for an indication of where people were from prompted a double take when he heard "Australia" --- apparently not a lot of Australian fans have attended these events. A wreath sat importantly next to the graves of Hank and Audrey, Terry Faust, “Hank’s Grave Tender” sang a haunting tribute song to Hank, and several of the musicians who were to perform at the museum later that day collaborated for a moving rendition of "I saw the light".
The ceremony dispensed with, and our cab long departed, we relied on the goodwill of the grandparents of 2 members of the Sheppard Family band to transport us back to the museum for the 10 am festivities. They described themselves as "down home folks" and were more than generous with their offers of transportation and table sharing once back at the museum auditorium. They promised to keep in touch via email (and in fact did).
The Sheppard Family band were the first of many acts to take the stage throughout the day. Others included Frank Tuma, whom we had met the previous day at the Hampton Inn and who had written a song called "I met Hank Williams in a bar", Joey Allcorn (soon to release an album saluting Hank Williams and raising money for Museum), and Arty Hill, whose band "The Long Gone Daddy's" was named after Hank's song "I'm a long gone daddy". Most sang versions of Hank Williams' songs and there were a few repeats.
In the early afternoon a barbecue lunch was provided as advertised. We came to understand that a barbecue in Australia differs from that in the United States, where it refers to a technique of cooking that involves cooking meat for long periods of time at low temperatures with smoke from a wood fire. A birthday cake for Hank's 90th birthday was unveiled and subsequently dismembered and distributed to the faithful. A busload of Canadians on a "Country music tour" swelled the audience for a period, and various local celebrities were introduced. One of these was Martha Howel, sister in law of Don Helms, Hank Williams'steel player (Don was married to Ouida Hazel Cullifer Helms - Martha's sister). She was gracious enough to chat to us about Don, Hank, Hazel and the museum. Unfortunately the man who drove the car Hank died in - Charles Carr, a regular attendee at museum functions, had died earlier in the year. The family of Braxton Schuffert, Hank's life long friend who had also passed away during the year, gave an emotional presentation in his memory. No members of the Williams family attended, and we were yet to discover that within 8 days we would meet Hank's grand daughter Holly Williams in Nashville during the Americana music festival.
To one side of the stage Neil Alexander Hamilton, a professor of American history at
Spring Hill College
in Mobile Alabama, peddled his book "Outlaws still at large" - subtitled "a saga of roots country music since the 1970s". He not only signed the copy I purchased but enlisted Joey Allcorn to sign the chapter about him. Unknown the us at the time was the interesting but unrelated fact that Spring Hill College was involved in controversy when, on July
27, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald spoke there about life in the
Soviet Union, just months before the assassination President John F.
Kennedy.
We managed to find time between acts to tour the museum and examine the many fascinating artifacts, one of the most impressive being the Cadillac Hank died in. You may be forgiven for thinking one would be "Hanked out" by nightfall, but we managed, after a couple of hours respite, to get to Joey Allcorn's performance at the nearby "Alley Bar" to hear more roots country music.
