Hank Williams



"In the early 20th century a team of explorers led by Professor Hank Williams, Ph.D., stumbled across the Shroud of Turin in Italy. When they touched it, they became possessed with the spirit of Country. They brought it back to America, which was the right thing to do. Williams then invented a time machine and travelled back in time in order to use country music to inspire the American Revolution."

- Cracked.com, "Country Music"

There are important Country Music artists, then there's Hank Williams.

Born Hiram King Williams in 1923, Williams left an impact on the country music scene that few others before or since have ever made — even before his signing to MGM Records in 1946, he was heralded as a talent worth watching. With his unique style of "direct, emotional lyrics" and strong honky-tonk influences. Some of his best-known songs are "Lovesick Blues", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey, Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "Kaw-Liga" and "Your Cheatin' Heart." His band was known as the Drifting Cowboys.

Not surprisingly, Williams was no stranger to the bottle, even before his career got kicked into overdrive. This drinking problem was combined with a morphine addiction that rent his marriage asunder (of course, not long after the birth of his son, Hank Williams, Jr., who would later become a well-known singer in his own right, and fathered Hank Williams III, another notable singer and musician noted for his strong resemblance to his grandfather). His backing band split up, producer Fred Rose stopped supporting him, and he got fired from the Grand Ole Opry, only driving him further and further into the drugs and booze. He died January 1, 1953, at age 29. Incidentally, the last song he ever wrote was titled "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive."


 * What Could Have Been: If he left that big a shadow in only six years' worth of chart singles...
 * Your Cheating Heart: Trope Namer and most likely Trope Codifier as well.
 * Party Line Telephone, mentioned in "Mind Your Own Business" (from album "Honky Tonkin", July 1949): "Oh, the woman on our party line's the nosiest thing / She picks up her receiver when she knows it's my ring"