Hank Williams by Colin Escott; George Merritt; William MacEwen

Author:Colin Escott; George Merritt; William MacEwen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Autobiography
ISBN: 9780316249386
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 1994-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

At Hank’s insistence, Lilly was presented with a gold watch by the Jaycees. Her smile, as she posed for the cameras, was exactly like Hank’s. It was a chance for him to acknowledge in front of nine thousand paying attendees the role she had played in getting his career started. Hank could also celebrate a partial family truce held in his honor. Audrey didn’t squabble with Lilly, and Lilly didn’t squabble with Lon, who’d come from McWilliams for the occasion, but when Lon tried to hold his grandson, Audrey snatched him back.

Braxton remembered sitting backstage at the Coliseum when a kid with a guitar strode up to Hank and asked if he could sing a couple of numbers to the crowd. At first Hank declined, but then, recognizing shades of himself fifteen years earlier, agreed. “This guy said, ‘All I do is sing your songs, just let me sing one of your songs,’” said Braxton. “Hank said, ‘Well, what d’you want to do?’ This guy said, ‘I want to do “Hey, Good Lookin’.” Hank said, ‘Well, that’s my current song.’ This guy said, Aw, Hank, let me sing it.’ Hank said, ’Go ‘head, I’ll sing something else.’”

Hank’s manager, Bill England, negotiated the show with the Jaycees, and he remembered it as a fiasco because of the poor PA, although his attitude could have stemmed from the fact that he and Hank were heading for a parting of the ways. The Homecoming was one of his last acts on Hank’s behalf, and they eventually parted backstage at the Ryman. They’d both seen it coming. WSM made England an offer to return to his old job, selling airtime, and he gratefully accepted.

Hank stayed overnight in Montgomery after the Homecoming. Back at the boardinghouse, he took off his shirt to show everyone his new brace. Swarms of people were around him pitching songs or trying to sell him something. The next day, he headed down the oh so familiar Highway 31 toward the Gulf for a string of personal appearances that started in Biloxi, and he continued on through his old haunts in southern Louisiana and eastern Texas. He then returned to Nashville for the Opry and to prepare for another recording session, the first under a contract renewal dated July 5 that extended his MGM term for another two years and upped his royalty from two to three cents a single.

The July 25, 1951, session was held between 7:15 and 10:35 p.m., and the studio was stiflingly hot. Air conditioners and fans created too much noise, so there was no alternative but to sweat it out. Another Acuff-Rose songwriter, Helen Hudgins, was there that night. “Hank had his shirt unbuttoned all the way,” she told researcher John Rumble, “and he was absolutely soaking wet. It seemed that all he was…was voice. It came up from I don’t know where.” Only three songs from the July 25 session were deemed issuable by Fred Rose. The most unusual was “Lonesome Whistle,” a title truncated in the interests of jukebox cards from “(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle.

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