@honkytonktown: Remembering the Hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams, born on this day in 1923 in Mount Olive, Alabama. Born Hiram King Williams, Hank learned much of his early musical style from Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne, a Black street musician who introduced him to the blues. As a teenager, he began performing on local radio and formed his band, the Drifting Cowboys. His breakthrough came with “Lovesick Blues,” which spent 16 weeks at number one in 1949. That success brought him to the Grand Ole Opry, where his debut performance was so powerful that the audience demanded six encores. Hank married twice. His first wife, Audrey Sheppard Williams, helped manage the Drifting Cowboys and occasionally performed with him. They married in 1944, became parents to Hank Williams Jr., and divorced in 1952. Later that year, Hank married Billie Jean Jones Eshliman, only a few months before his death. In a recording career that lasted only six years, Hank placed 35 singles in the country Top 10, including 11 number one hits. His timeless catalog includes “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Jambalaya,” and “Long Gone Lonesome Blues.” He also recorded moral recitations and talking blues under the name Luke the Drifter, revealing another side of his extraordinary storytelling talent. Hank died at only 29, yet his honest writing, emotional voice, and powerful melodies transformed country music forever. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of its first class in 1961, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and received a special Pulitzer Prize citation in 2010. Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 - January 1, 1953) #honkytonktown #hankwilliams #countrymusic

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