The Life and Legacy of Shreveport-Bossier’s Adopted Son
In September of 1952, Hank Williams returned to the stage of the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Shreveport to perform once again on the Louisiana Hayride radio program. Having just been unceremoniously fired from the Grand Ole Opry, Hank had jumped at the invitation to return “home” to Shreveport-Bossier and perform once again in the place where he had found fame and success a mere four years earlier.
When Hayride announcer Horace Logan introduced Hank to the crowd upon his return that September night, he was met with raucous cheers. During the introduction, Logan treated Hank like a long-lost son.
“It’s been about two years since you’ve been home, boy,” Logan said. After some friendly banter, Hank announced his song choice for the evening. The crowd roared, and Hank tore into a crowd-pleasing rendition of his hit song “Jambalaya.”
A little more than three months after his boisterous Louisiana homecoming, Hank Williams would be dead – instantly catapulted into the stratosphere of American musical mythology. He died in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, 1953. His death famously came in the backseat of his babyblue Cadillac en route to a gig in Canton, Ohio.
The official cause of death was listed as heart failure, an apropos diagnosis for a crooner and blues man whose greatest gift was channeling his brokenness through words and music. The man known as the Hillbilly Shakespeare never saw his 30th birthday.
Hank Williams’ story is unquestionably intertwined with Shreveport and Bossier City. The references to his time in the Ark-La-Tex are constant in the countless historical accounts of Williams’ life. “However, when you travel throughout the Shreveport-Bossier metro area, you will find no murals of Hank Williams, no museums and no statues either. Aside from being honored in the Northwest Louisiana Walk of Stars, there’s hardly a whisper or a hint that one of the most influential musicians in American music history called this area his home for almost a year.”
While Shreveport-Bossier may not yet sufficiently recognize its own significance in Hank’s story, Hank aficionados certainly do. In the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Ala., Shreveport and Bossier City cities are mentioned in writing no less than 39 times.
The story of Hank Williams in Shreveport-Bossier is not the stuff of myths or conjecture. It is instead the very real story of a fledgling star who found a chance at stardom in a new city and who later in life returned to that city – one of the few places where he had been happy during his short, tumultuous life.
When Hank Williams first came to
Shreveport from Alabama in the summer of 1948, he was almost 25 years
old. He had agreed to appear on KWKH’s Louisiana Hayride radio program –
a program that at that time was only four months old. But Hank needed a
chance to prove himself, and the Hayride was the perfect platform.
Broadcast on 50,000-watt KWKH, anyone who appeared on the Louisiana
Hayride was guaranteed to reach a wide audience and, with luck, receive
an invite to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. – the goal of every
country musician trying to “make a name.” The Hayride’s propensity to do
just that for countless singers over its run earned it the moniker
“Cradle of the Stars.” Hank would be the very first major star to emerge
from that cradle.
On Aug. 7,
1948, Hank appeared on the Louisiana Hayride for the first time. He sang
a song called “Move It On Over” – a song released a year earlier on the
MGM label. Hank was the fifth performer in the 8-8:30 segment.
His
appearance on the Louisiana Hayride resulted in a slow-moving freight
train of stardom that would quickly become an out-of-control locomotive.
In the meantime, as fame loomed, Hank had to begin the real work of
making a life in Shreveport-Bossier. Hank’s interactions around the city
were those of any young musician trying to make their way in the world:
renting an apartment, picnicking at the lake, playing lackluster gigs,
buying a first home, and even enduring marital strife.
Hank Williams performs alongside other notable musicians on the stage of the famous Louisiana Hayride.
Hank first rented a garage apartment located at 4802 Mansfield Road in Shreveport. (Coincidentally, the
property’s current caretaker shares a birthday with Hank Williams.)
Hank’s band from Alabama joined him. But because they were new musicians
in town, work was sparse. Hank’s low-paying gigs could not fund an
entire band. Needing to make money, most band members eventually
returned to Alabama.
One
of the more noticeable characteristics of the Mansfield Road property
is a set of railroad tracks directly across the street. The railroad
tracks’ proximity
to where Hank first rested his head in Shreveport leaves historians to
ponder just how much the constant blowing of a lonesome train horn in
the passing night might have later inspired Hank’s famous line “the
midnight train is whining low/I’m so lonesome I could cry.”
Shreveport
resident Ronnie Crawford recalls a Hank Williams story from Mansfield
Road shared by his father. The Crawfords owned Kickapoo Plaza Courts and
Café #3 – a
restaurant, hotel and service station at the corner of Mansfield Road
and Hollywood Avenue. At the time, according to Crawford, that address
was at the edge of town.
“It was sort of the last outpost for a long time going toward Mansfield,” Crawford said.
“You might not like the song, but when it gets so
hot that I walk off the stage and throw my hat back on the stage and the
hat encores, that’s pretty hot.”– Hank Williams
According
to Crawford’s father, Hank was known to pop into Kickapoo #3 to eat at
the restaurant, which sat a mere half-mile from his Mansfield Road
address. Ronnie Crawford was too young to remember Hank, but later, he
remembered meeting Hayride stars Johnny Horton and Faron Young.
Early
in his time on the Hayride, Hank received sponsorship from the
Shreveport Syrup Company to promote Johnnie Fair Syrup. Hank peddled
syrup while performing on an early morning radio show broadcast on KWKH.
The studios were located at
509 Market St. in downtown Shreveport. Labeling himself “The Ol’ Syrup
Sopper,” many of these performances were recorded. In one recording,
Hank greets the morning crowd with a familiar down-home folksiness that
his fans would come to love.
Hank with Governor Jimmie Davis.
“Now,
friends, I know all of you can recall when you were kids and what a
treat it was to get that good syrup and bread and meat for breakfast,”
Hank said. “Now folks have sort of gotten away from using syrup like
they
used to, but it’s always been one of my favorite sweets – especially
that fine Johnnie Fair Blue Ribbon Cane Flavor.”
Between
radio appearances, Hank frequented a 24-hour diner on Market Street
called the Bantam Grill. The grill was directly across the street from
the KWKH studios. In the book “Still in Love with You: The Story of Hank
and Audrey Williams,” Hank’s stepdaughter, Lycrecia, wrote the
following:
“Between shows [Hank] spent
time at the Bantam Grill, which he called ‘the beanery.’ Murrell
Stansell, who owned and operated the grill, remembers Daddy wasn’t too
sociable at that time of day and would sit for long periods on a stool
at the counter just drinking coffee and not talking to anyone.”
Hank’s favorite way to pass time at the Bantam
Grill was playing the gambling pinball machine. Recalled Stansell, “He’d
be here playing my pinball table, and his band would have to pull him
away to get up to the studio on time.”
The Bantam Grill is now long gone, and in its place is the Regions Tower – the tallest building in Shreveport.
Eventually,
Hank moved across the Red River to Bossier City. When he joined the
Shreveport Music Union on Feb. 4, 1949, Hank listed his home address as
1029 Saint Charles St. in Bossier City.
Around
that same time, Hank’s musical fortunes would take a dramatic turn for
the better. The main catalyst for this explosion was a recycled pop tune
called “Lovesick Blues,” which Hank started singing early in his tenure
at the Louisiana Hayride. The Hayride fans went wild over the song,
offering Hank an early harbinger of its possible commercial value. A
Shreveport Times article noted, “Capacity crowds at the Hayride nearly
tear the house down for encores of ‘Lovesick Blues.’”
According to Hank’s biographer, Colin Escott, recording “Lovesick Blues”
was an afterthought – a last-minute addition to a three-hour recording
session in Cincinnati. Producer Fred Rose was not a fan of the song,
allegedly describing it as “the worst damn thing I ever heard.” Hank’s
session mates agreed with Rose. The discussion over whether to record it
became heated, recalled mandolinist Clyde Baum. During the argument,
Baum heard Hank tell Fred Rose, “You might not like the song, but when
it gets so hot that I walk off the stage and throw my hat back on the
stage and the hat encores, that’s pretty hot.”
The
song ended up getting recorded, and Hank’s intuition regarding
“Lovesick Blues” turned out to be right. The song was an instant hit. In
the first 17 days after its February release, the song that Fred Rose
didn’t want to record sold more than 48,000 copies. One month later, in
March, the song showed up on the country charts.
That
same month – March of 1949 – the Williams family purchased a new home
at 852 Modica St. in Bossier City. Hank, his stepdaughter, Lycrecia, and
his spitfire wife, Audrey – who was seven months pregnant with Hank Jr.
at the time – settled into their new home. The house, coincidentally,
was just down the street from Hank’s future wife, Billie Jean. Years
later, the house on Modica Street would fall into disrepair. In 2017,
the house was purchased by a rock-and-roll memorabilia collector named
Stephen M. Shutts, who dismantled the house one piece at a time. In
turn, Shutts sold the remnants of the house to Kid Rock. Currently, the
pieces of Hank Williams’ Bossier City house are somewhere in Tennessee.
The
first half of 1949 was a whirlwind for the Williams family. They had
moved into their new Bossier City home in March. Two months later, on
May 7, 1949, “Lovesick Blues” became America’s number one country song.
Hank’s friend and Louisiana Hayride legend, Tillman Franks, delivered
the good news to him. In the biography “I Saw the Light: The Story of
Hank Williams,” Tillman Franks recalled Hank’s reaction to hearing the
news.
“Hank was eating
at the Bantam Grill,” Franks said. “I’d bought Billboard at the
newsstand and ‘Lovesick Blues’ had just gotten to number one. I walked
in and showed it to him. It shook him up pretty good. He just sat there
silent for the longest time. He realized what that was.”
Three
weeks later – on May 26 – Hank and Audrey welcomed Hank Jr. into the
world. Then, in June, the whirlwind continued. Hank finally got the
long-awaited phone call inviting him to join the Grand Ole Opry. From
there, Hank’s life became even more frenetic, spending time in Nashville
and touring constantly. He performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry
and made several appearances on the new medium of television. In a span
of three years, Hank’s place in the pantheon of American music was
solidified as he ascended to the highest levels of fame.
But
Hank’s life – not just his career – was a shooting star. As quickly as
he rose to fame, his health began to fade. Burdened by worsening
alcoholism and the meddling of a controversial doctor named Toby
Marshall, Hank’s health and career took a downward trajectory. The coup
de grace of Hank’s time in Nashville was his firing from the Grand Ole
Opry after missing too many appearances.
On
Sept. 24, 1952, Hank Williams signed a new, three-year contract with
the Louisiana Hayride, eternally solidifying Shreveport-Bossier’s role
as bookends in the rise and fall of Hank Williams.
After
his marriage to Audrey Williams ended in an ugly, public divorce, Hank
married a Bossier City local named Billie Jean Jones Elshliman.
They had met previously in
Nashville while she was dating country singer Faron Young. One of the
very first things they chatted about was how they coincidentally both
had lived on the same street in Bossier City – 560 miles away.
They
had three weddings. The official ceremony was performed on Saturday,
Oct. 18, 1952, in Minden, La., by Justice of the Peace P.E. Burton. The
next day, the new Williams couple held two ticketed “weddings” in New
Orleans. After the wedding, Hank and Billie Jean returned to the
Ark-La-Tex and moved into a house at 1346 Shamrock St. in Bossier City.
This address is listed on an Oklahoma Biltmore hotel receipt on display
at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery.
The result of Hank’s whirlwind romance and two-and-half-month marriage
to Billie Jean would result in lawsuits and legal quagmires that took
years to play out. (Billie Jean married country singer Johnny Horton
after Hank’s death.)
During
the last few months of 1952, Hank began a downhill slide. His
alcoholism was worsening, and he was in and out of the Highland
Sanitarium in Shreveport in attempts to stay sober. On Dec. 11, Hank
pulled IVs out of his arm, walked out of the sanitarium and headed to
downtown Shreveport, where he was arrested for public drunkenness.
To
add another layer to his torment, Hank was also addicted to painkillers
– a result of tempering the chronic pain from spina bifida and a back
injury he received after being thrown from a horse back in Nashville.
Watching
his decline, even Hank’s friends doubted his ability to overcome his
alcoholism. Even longtime Hank supporter Horace Logan described Hank at
that time of his life as “a slobbering drunk.”
Later
that month, on Dec. 19, Hank pulled himself together enough to perform
for a sold-out crowd at the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas.
No one there knew they were
witnessing Hank Williams’ last public performance. Bandmate Tommy Hill
recalled that it was one of the best Hank Williams shows he’d ever seen.
The 8 p.m. gig, which was only supposed to last about an hour, went
until almost 1 a.m. Hank even sang some of his favorite gospel songs.
Immediately
after the gig was over, Hank and his entourage drove through the night
back to Shreveport, where Hank checked into the hospital to be treated
for pneumonia. The next day, citing that Hank was “very obviously
physically ill,” Horace Logan granted Hank a leave of absence from his
Hayride obligations, hoping he would finally find lasting treatment for
his alcoholism.
Sadly, that treatment would never come.
Hiram “Hank” Williams died
12 days later in the back seat of his Cadillac. Poetically, within days
of his death, Hank’s latest song, “I’ll Never Get Out of This World
Alive,” shot to number one on the Billboard charts.
Hank WIlliams with band, the Drifting Cowboys.
Hank’s
legacy speaks for itself. He was among the first three inductees into
the Country Music Hall of Fame. He is also enshrined in the Songwriters
Hall of Fame. In 1987, he was even inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame. This begs the question: Why is a country music star honored in
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
The
reason is simple: Some historians argue that Hank Williams was the
first rock-and-roll star. He had learned to play music from a black
street blues musician named Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne. Later, Hank
seamlessly melded country and blues together in the song “Move it On
Over,” a song whose arpeggiated melody line and blues progression are
hauntingly similar to Bill Haley’s 1954 hit “Rock Around the Clock.”
Hank’s music,
charisma, looks, crossover appeal and largerthan-life aura helped him reach levels of fame no American entertainer had known.
In other words, he was a rock star.
Beyond
the rock-star nature of his life and endless accolades is Hank’s
immeasurable influence on America and its music. A whole generation of
future rock-and -roll stars were watching Hank’s meteoric rise during
the most impressionable years of their own lives, and Hank was creating
the blueprint they would all use to create an entirely new genre of
music we call rock and roll.
When
historians examine the brief, influential life of Hank Williams, there
are consistent themes. He was indeed charismatic, troubled, heartbroken
and an alcoholic.
But
these very real attributes often enabled Hank to connect with his fans’
very real joys and troubles. And they reciprocated their appreciation by
buying albums. In a little over five years after his first record deal,
Hank sold an estimated 10 million albums.
Despite the brevity of his
career, Hank recorded an astonishing 225 songs. In the years since,
Hank’s songs have been covered by everyone from Ray Charles to Tony
Bennett, Norah Jones, Harry Connick Jr. and countless others. In
addition to covers, Hank’s life has inspired more than 75 songs about
him. Among them are “Midnight in Montgomery” by Alan Jackson, “The Ride”
by David Allen Coe, “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” by Waylon
Jennings, and “The Night Hank Williams Came to Town” by Johnny Cash.
Hank Williams Jr. himself alluded to his father’s troubled life in the
classic bar singalong “Family Tradition.” In addition to songs, four
feature films and countless documentaries have been made about the life
of Hank Williams. One of those films, “I Saw the Light,” starring Tom
Hiddleston, was fittingly filmed in Shreveport-Bossier. The number of
books written about Hank Williams could fill a library.
On
Sept. 17, 2023, Hank Williams fans worldwide will celebrate what would
have been Hank’s 100th birthday. Shreveport and Bossier City – for their
role in the story of Hank Williams – will also honor the momentous
occasion. A singalong is planned on the steps of the Shreveport
Municipal Auditorium on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 2 p.m.
The railroad tracks’ proximity to where Hank
first rested his head in Shreveport leaves historians to ponder just how
much the constant blowing of a lonesome train horn in the passing night
might have later inspired Hank’s famous line “the midnight train is
whining low/I’m so lonesome I could cry.”
For
Shreveport-Bossier, the story of Hank Williams is the story of what
might have been. If he had lived longer, would he have stayed in
Shreveport? Would he have lived here till his dying day? Would he have
been buried here? And perhaps the most tantalizing thought: If he had
lived through 1955, Hank might have shared the Louisiana Hayride stage
with both Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash – a cataclysmic musical
collision that would have left even the most articulate music historians
flailing for description.
But
the might-have-beens and what-ifs will have to remain. Unlike many
great artists who outlived their own legend, Hank did not. By dying
young and avoiding the conundrum of rock-androll, Hank’s music and
legacy remain that of an influential predecessor. Hank’s ascendence was a
warning shot across the bow of American music.
This rise would foreshadow the revolutionary wave of cultural changes barreling toward the nation in the mid-1950s.
As
such, Hank’s legacy is evident: a musical juggernaut whose tortured
life and gentle heart paved the path for all subsequent musicians and
whose influence will live on for generations to come. And as Hank’s
story will undoubtedly never fade, Shreveport-Bossier will be eternally
regarded with a simple and meaningful line in Hank’s epitaph, spoken
best by his biographer Colin Escott:
“In a lot of ways, the year that Hank spent in Shreveport was the happiest of his life.”
Hank and his stepdaughter, Lycrecia, pose for a photo next to the star’s famous Cadillac.
