Some of the faces are always new. They’ve wanted to come here at least once. Other familiar faces come every New Year’s Day and have been coming for decades.
Some are local, but many are from out of state. A shrinking number of the oldsters, aged 80s and 90s, knew him. They are all here to honor, mourn and observe the New Year’s Day death of Hank Williams, Sr.
One of the earliest Alabama musical superstars was Hank Williams, born in Mount Olive in Butler County in 1923. He learned to play guitar on the streets of Greenville. He started his performing career in Montgomery.
That career and life ended on January 1, 1953, on New Year’s Day. Hank Williams was only 29 years old. Though his life and career were brief, his influence on musicians continues today.
The annual graveside wreath-laying and memorial service that marks the 73rd anniversary of Williams’ death will be at Montgomery’s Oakwood Cemetery Annex, 1304 Upper Wetumpka Road, on Thursday, January 1, at 10 a.m.
No ticket or RSVP is needed for public attendance. Come on out. The weather forecast is for sunny skies and a high of 62 degrees. Perfect for an outdoor Hank memorial.
Some will wear funeral attire, others blue jeans, and a few will sport Hank-style country and western outfits. Most years, the ceremony attracts at least one Hank look-a-like, done respectfully.
Almost 73 years ago, thousands of Alabama folks lined up to get into the largest funeral in Alabama history. It was at Montgomery’s City Hall. The hall was not big enough. It should have been held at Cramton Bowl, the Montgomery football stadium.
The annual service concludes each year with all attendees jointly singing the Williams-penned song, “I Saw The Light.”
The gravesite of Hank and Audrey Williams is unusual and striking. There’s no way to effectively describe it except by actually going there, getting out, and looking, reading and feeling the spirit evoked. It’s worth a trip, whether on the New Year’s Day event or at any time.
Williams died enroute to a New Year’s Day concert in Canton, Ohio. The Cadillac in which Williams died has been restored and is on display at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery.
The first memorial service held at Williams’ gravesite took place in September 1954 to mark what would have been his 31st birthday. Five-year-old Hank Williams Jr., his half-sister Lycrecia, and former Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, a country music singer famous for recording the super-hit “You Are My Sunshine,” laid a wreath of red and white carnations and magnolia leaves as 250 participants watched.
A gala concert at Cramton Bowl held on the evening after the first Hank wreath-laying attracted an audience of 10,000. It included performances by Jimmie Davis (the “Singing Governor of Louisiana”), Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow and others. At the concert’s finale, the massive marble monument resting at Williams’ grave was publicly unveiled for the first time.
Hank Williams is one of only 16 people inducted in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He recorded eleven number-one hits and placed 43 songs on the country music charts during his brief career.
“Praise the Lord, I saw the light.”
Jim Zig Zeigler is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News. His beat includes the positive and colorful about Alabama – her people, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former State Auditor and Public Service Commissioner. You can reach him at [email protected]
