Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [119]
* * *
TIME
2 days
DISTANCE
125 miles
BEST TIME TO GO
Year-round
START
Birmingham, AL
END
Montgomery, AL
ALSO GOOD FOR
* * *
What Louis Armstrong did for jazz, what Elvis Presley did for rock and roll and what Nirvana did for grunge, Hank Williams did for country music. There’s no argument that holds water against him being one of the most influential musicians and songwriters of the 20th century. But both amazingly and sadly, Williams’ contributions were short-lived and, like many of the greats, death knocked on his door prematurely.
If you arrive late in Birmingham, stay over at Redmont Hotel – the last place Williams slept in before he died. Otherwise, head south on I-65 to Georgiana, near where Williams was born as Hiram, not Hank, in 1929. As a young boy, Williams would belt out tunes standing on a church organ bench next to his mother, Lillie Williams. That very organ bench is on display at the large Hank Williams Boyhood Home & Museum, full of Williams memorabilia gathered over the years from fans. One of Hank’s straightedge razors, a cowboy hat and some old dishes round out the personal items. Hank sat on the front steps here and strummed his first guitar, a gift from his mother, when he was just eight years old.
Super-keen fans will want to call ahead and make arrangements to visit the Hank Williams Fan Club House, across the street from the museum. Devotees from the world over gather here to shoot the breeze about all things Hank among even more trinkets. During the annual Hank Williams Festival, held the first Saturday of June, fans descend on the house for impromptu jam sessions and forlorn stories of Hank lore. In downtown Georgiana – if you can call it that – there’s a concrete slab across from the Lowery Hardware store where once sat the Old Train Depot. Williams shined shoes here as a boy. The Ga-Ana Theater, across the street, is where Williams and the Drifting Cowboys played several gigs from 1939 onward. Hank was just 16 years old. It still hosts gigs today.
* * *
“Hank would get a little bit rowdy in Chris’ Hot Dogs and my dad [the owner] would say, ‘Alright Hank…you gotta go. You can’t be acting like that in here.’ Hank would say, ‘I’ll take my business elsewhere then.’ And my dad would say, ‘Go ahead! They’ll throw you out, too!’ He’d be drinking beer in here at 8am when everyone else was having breakfast.”
* * *
From Georgiana, I-65 northbound to Montgomery is now commemorated as the Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway. At Greenville, where Williams lived from 1934 to 1937, Hwy 31 juts slightly east into Montgomery – it was along this road that Williams found the inspiration for “I Saw the Light” when he glimpsed the nighttime beacon of Dannelly Field, Montgomery’s airport. In downtown Montgomery, the Jefferson Davis Hotel on Montgomery St was once home to WFSA radio station, where Hank landed a twice-weekly gig, billed as the “Singing Kid,” at merely 14 years old. Some say he saw the station’s nighttime beacon as well (Williams saw a lot of lights). It’s now a private building.
Within walking distance is the Hank Williams Museum, an altogether more dressed-up affair than the Georgiana museum and home to his baby blue 1952 Cadillac and countless outfits and suits. Next door is the Hampton Inn, in a gorgeously renovated 1920s building, and a good spot to rest up on a Montgomery Hank trip. It’s hard not to imagine that more was happening in Montgomery in Hank’s day as there ain’t much happening now, but Nobles is a good spot for a drink and live music – it sits on the former spot of the Elite Café, the last place Hank performed before he died. Across the street is the former Empire Theater, where Williams won $15 in a talent contest performing what was likely the first song he wrote, “WPA Blues.