Beth Petty: Annual pilgrimage to Montgomery proves Hank Williams continues to recruit new fans years after his birth

Country music fans from across the nation and even some foreign countries will gather in Montgomery on Sept. 14, 2024, to pay tribute to the 101st birthday of singer and songwriter Hank Williams with a graveside memorial service and a gala concert at the Davis Theatre. An annual pilgrimage that many fans make year after year, the tribute demonstrates the firm hold that Williams’ legacy still has on so many country music aficionados.

Born in tiny Mount Olive, Ala., in 1923, Williams was taught to play guitar as a boy by itinerant African-American blues musician, Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne. While a teen, he worked for tips as a street performer in downtown Montgomery, and later won an amateur talent contest at the Empire Theater, which earned him a $15 grand prize for performing the self-penned song, “WPA Blues.”

A regional show on radio station WSFA and relentless touring at honky tonks, bars and nightclubs throughout the Southeast eventually took him to Nashville, leading to a recording contract with MGM records.

Williams’ singing and songwriting talents launched his career to legendary status, and he remains one of only 16 performers inducted into both the country music and rock-and-roll halls of fame. He recorded 55 songs that reached the Billboard Country/Western Top 10, with 11 achieving the number one position, and he was among the first songwriters to have the songs he penned cross over from the country music charts to the pop music charts.

From the release of his first hit, “Move It On Over,” in 1947, until his death at age 29 on New Year’s Day in 1953, the major portion of Williams’ career lasted only about five full years, but his legacy continues to loom larger than other performers.

Many music historians, biographers and others have attempted to explain why Williams still stands so tall among all other artists and why his memory endures. I have my own theories.

Rather than placing himself above others – like so many pop stars today with their private jets, diamond rings, expensive cars and vast mansions – Williams rooted himself firmly among the people. He remained one of the rural masses, always remembered his years of struggle, and composed and sang songs that spoke to the hearts of the everyday person. His music is filled with themes of love and heartbreak, celebration and sorrow, happiness and loss, and, under his gospel music pseudonym of “Luke the Drifter,” sin and redemption. Because the feelings he wrote about so eloquently and the topics he embraced are eternal among humans, Williams’ music touches hearts and recruits new fans more than a half century after his passing.

My husband, Jeff, and I operate Montgomery’s Hank Williams Museum, which includes the 1952 Cadillac Series 62 convertible in which he died as the centerpiece of the exhibit, and since its opening in 1999, we have welcomed visitors of all ages and from almost every continent on the planet.

Our museum has hosted the likes of Gregg Allman, Elvis Costello, Whisperin' Bill Anderson, Jamey Johnson, Joe Bonamassa, The Beach Boys, Vince Gill, Charlie Daniels, George Thorogood and hundreds of other bands and musicians who understand that this place allows them to pay homage to one of the greatest.

We often hear visitors clap, sing and hum along to the music that is played on speakers as they work their way through the museum viewing Williams’ stage costumes, instruments and other personal artifacts on display, but it is quite common for the simple sight of the convertible to bring tears to the eyes of his fans. Each tear provides powerful testimony to Williams’ greatness.

The Hank 101 Birthday Concert we are producing this year features the Malpass Brothers, a duo that hosts a popular show on the RFD-TV network and remains devoted to the traditional country music that Williams and his contemporaries performed.

Tickets for the concert, which begins at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Troy University’s Davis Theatre in Montgomery, are $30 for general admission and $45 for reserved VIP seats and may be purchased at the Hank Williams Museum, located in Montgomery at 118 Commerce Street, or by calling (334) 262-3600.

The Hank Williams 101st Birthday Wreath Laying and Memorial Service will take place at his gravesite in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex, located at 1304 Upper Wetumpka Road in Montgomery, at 9 a.m. on Sept. 14. The Sheppard Family Band, whose members are cousins of Williams’ first wife, Audrey Sheppard Williams, will perform during the ceremony.

Whether you are a long-time fan of Hank Williams, a new recruit, or simply someone who wants to learn more about one of American music’s greatest legends, we invite you to join us for the birthday events.

Beth Petty and her husband, Jeff, operate the Hank Williams Museum, which houses the largest collection of personally-owned Hank Williams items on display anywhere in the world.