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Oak Hill in Fayette County, West Virginia — The American South (Appalachia)
 

Hank Williams — The Last Ride

Hank Williams Dies En Route to Shows

 
 
Hank Williams’ Last Ride Marker, side one image. Click for full size.
Photographed By J. J. Prats, July 25, 2021
1. Hank Williams’ Last Ride Marker, side one
Inscription.
The legendary Hank Williams recorded 30 hit singles, including seven number-one hits, on the Billboard Top Ten country-western charts in six years. However, his erratic behavior caused by a mixture of alcohol and narcotics caused WSM’s Grand Ole Opry to fire him in August 1952. In an effort to revive his stalled career, he left his mother’s boarding house in Montgomery, Alabama, on Dec. 30 for four holiday concerts. Charles Carr, the 18-year-old son of a taxi service owner, drove the singer’s 1952 Cadillac convertible.

After an overnight stop at the Redmont Hotel in Birmingham and some rest and medical attention at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, they encountered weather delays in Tennessee. Dense fog thwarted an attempt to travel by airplane. The singer was forced to skip a pair of New Year’s Eve concerts in Charleston, West Virginia, and they raced toward Ohio for two New Year’s Day shows in Canton.

In the predawn hours of Jan. 1, 1953, on the road south of Beckley, the teenage driver found the singer unresponsive stretched out on the backseat of the Cadillac. Carr rushed to Oak Hill Hospital. The 29-year-old singer, who penned such hits as Hey, Good Lookin’ and I Saw the Light, was pronounced dead of “heart failure” at 7 a.m. The staff of Tyree Funeral Home embalmed
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and dressed the body and drove the singer’s body in a hearse to Montgomery for services.

An estimated 20,000 mourners overflowed and surrounded the City Auditorium on a snowy Sunday, Jan. 4. Within a year, publishers released four more songs that earned hit status, including the classics Kaw-Liga and Your Cheatin’ Heart.

The route of Knoxville to Blaine to Bristol to Bluefield to Princeton to Mount Hope to Oak Hill remains a sacred pilgrimage for many fans of the singer-songwriter.
 
Erected 2016 by The Alabama Tourism Department.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, MusicEntertainment. A significant historical month for this entry is August 1952.
 
Location. 37° 58.374′ N, 81° 8.874′ W. Marker is in Oak Hill, West Virginia, in Fayette County. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Oak Hill WV 25901, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Hank Williams Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); Oak Hill Railroad Depot (approx. 0.4 miles away); Community Life in a Coal Camp (approx. 1.4 miles away); The White Oak Valley (approx. 1.4 miles away); The Coal Barons (approx. 1.4 miles away); Labor Strikes and Conflicts (approx. 1.4
Hank Williams Marker, side two image. Click for full size.
Photographed By J. J. Prats, July 25, 2021
2. Hank Williams Marker, side two
miles away); Disaster Underground (approx. 1.4 miles away); Oakwood Mine Complex (approx. 2.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Oak Hill.
 
Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker.
 
Also see . . .
1. Wikipedia entry for Hiram "Hank" Williams. Excerpt:
Born and raised in Alabama, Williams was given guitar lessons by African-American blues musician Rufus Payne in exchange for meals or money. Payne, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb, had a major influence on Williams's later musical style. Williams began his music career in Montgomery in 1937, when producers at local radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. He formed the Drifting Cowboys backup band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote his time to his career. When several of his band members were drafted during World War II, he had trouble with their replacements, and WSFA terminated his contract because of his alcoholism. ...

Years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely compromised Williams's health. In 1952, he divorced Sheppard and married singer Billie Jean Horton. He was dismissed by the Grand Ole Opry because of his unreliability
Hank Williams Marker, Oak Hill WV image. Click for full size.
Photographed By J. J. Prats, July 25, 2021
3. Hank Williams Marker, Oak Hill WV
and alcoholism. On New Year's Day 1953, he suffered from heart failure and died suddenly at the age of 29 in Oak Hill, West Virginia. Despite his relatively brief career, he is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century, especially in country music. Many artists have covered his songs and he has influenced Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, George Strait, Charley Pride, and The Rolling Stones, among others. Williams was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. The Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a posthumous special citation in 2010 for his “craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.”
(Submitted on August 10, 2021.) 

2. “Hey Good Lookin’ — Hank Williams — YouTube video.
(Submitted on August 10, 2021.) 
 
Hank Williams Marker, Oak Hill WV image. Click for full size.
Photographed By J. J. Prats, July 25, 2021
4. Hank Williams Marker, Oak Hill WV
Hank Williams (1923–1953) image. Click for full size.
WSM Radio publicity photo in the public domain, via Wikipedia Commons, 1951
5. Hank Williams (1923–1953)
Hank Williams — The Last Ride Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Craig Doda, July 22, 2022
6. Hank Williams — The Last Ride Marker
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on August 29, 2022. It was originally submitted on August 10, 2021, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. This page has been viewed 646 times since then and 85 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on August 10, 2021, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.   6. submitted on August 11, 2022, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio.

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Mar. 29, 2024