Midnight – The Death of Hank Williams
Every New Years as revelers across the country celebrate the symbolic reset of the calendar, a much more somber anniversary passes in the realm of country music. On January 1st, 1953, Hank Williams passed away in the back seat of his powder blue Cadillac somewhere on the road near Oak Hill, West Virginia of heart failure, forever robbing country music of its first superstar at the age of 29. Hank’s death has gone on to become one of the most storied, and most intriguing moments in country music lore, somewhat shrouded in mystery because some of the facts surrounding his death are not known and never will be, and because of the weight the passing of Hank Williams put on the heart of country music.
The death of Hank Williams has taken on a greater reverence, and a deeper importance in the last year with the passing of some of the most important characters in Hank’s life, and in the story of his death. Braxton Schuffert, the man who arguably discovered Hank Williams, passed away earlier this year in April. Charles Carr, the driver of Hank’s powder blue Cadillac on that fateful trip and the last person to see Hank Williams alive, passed away in early July. A movie loosely based on Hank’s final days called The Last Ride was released June 6th. And this year marks 60 years after Hank’s death, and 90 years after his birth.
In remembrance of these significant events, milestones, and passings, traditional country artist Joey Allcorn has assembled a collection of songs in an album called Midnight – The Death of Hank Williams. The theme of the album is to relive the tragic passing of Hank Williams through music, though not all the songs are specifically about Hank. For example the album starts off with some words from Braxton Schuffert—only fitting because he was there at the very beginning of Hank’s career. Then the first song performed by traditionalist Jake Penrod is “Rockin’ Chair Daddy,” a song written by Schuffert with Hank Williams. Near the end of the album is a song called “Song For Charles” for Hank’s driver Charles Carr, written and performed by Bobby Tomberlin.
In between are songs that have great significance to the Hank Williams death narrative, including “The Death of Hank Williams” that as Joey Allcorn explains really inspired the project. “To me it was an interesting song because it was the very first Hank Williams tribute,” says Allcorn. “Nowadays, doing a Hank Williams tribute is just sort of par for the course.” The “Midnight” title track is a duet between Allcorn and Jake Penrod, and the traditional “Death Is Only A Dream” pairs Allcorn with Rachel Brooke. Other songs that were written about the death of Hank Williams include “Is There Something You Can Do (New Year’s 1953)” told from the perspective of Charles Carr, written and performed by Arty Hill, “A Legend Froze In Time” written and performed by David Church, and “Fallen Star” by Andy Norman.
Another interesting note about Midnight is the final track is a contribution by the recently-fallen country artist Wayne Mills who was shot and killed on November 23rd in Nashville. Along with Wayne’s guitar player Kyle Wilson and Joey Allcorn, they revitalize the Waylon Jennings tune “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way.” This was the last track that Wayne Mills recorded and officially released for sale before his death.
Midnight is not your typical album project, and should be approach with that understanding and reverence. The point is to help the modern ear reconnect with those somber moments in the wake of Hank’s passing, and with the love each track is approached with, it carries this task admirably. The vintage audio of Braxton Schuffert starting off the album and DJ Nelson King of WCKY making the announcement of Hank’s death on the radio, along with the vinyl effect on the song “Death Is Only A Dream” help to set the somber mood and send you back to that time and place.
This album is not available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, or anywhere else. The only way it can be purchased is through the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, AL, with the proceeds going directly to the museum. This is not an album that will suck you in with groundbreaking original music; that is not the point. But as a commemoration of Hank’s death for the purpose of helping to keep his legacy alive through the museum, it grades high on all marks.
Two guns up.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
To purchase Midnight – The Death of Hank Williams, contact or visit the Hank Williams Museum at 118 Commerce St., Montgomery, AL, 36104. (334) 262-3600, or send them an email.
December 29, 2013 @ 11:34 am
It really is interesting how the lore of Hank’s death has affected how his music can be perceived. As someone who wasn’t born until nearly 20 years after his death it is hard to not factor in the way he died in the backseat of a car in the middle of the night into how you ‘feel’ his songs. And the thought that he was only 29 at his death has always amazed me when you look at the sheer volume of iconic songs he produced in approximately five years.
I appreciate that this seminal event in country music is so well honored and remembered because as odd as it sounds I’m not sure country music would be the same if he hadn’t died that night.
December 29, 2013 @ 12:40 pm
Here’s an interesting fact,his funeral was on my birthday,January 4th.
December 29, 2013 @ 1:16 pm
I’ve never heard or seen anyone explain why “Long White Cadillac” has the word “white” in it. Obviously you couldn’t sing “Long Powder Blue Cadillac”. Is ‘white’ used just as a replacement word that worked lyrically, or is there some other meaning behind it?
December 29, 2013 @ 1:53 pm
White is pure… Hank was smarter than people gave him credit for. People assume hillbillies lack intelligence. It’s a metaphor. He was way ahead of his time.
December 29, 2013 @ 3:14 pm
You could say a lot of things about Hank but ‘pure’ just isn’t something you could apply to him (maybe music wise?). The man had issues by all reports.
Maybe ‘white’ was the ghost version of the Caddy that took him to heaven. I’m really curious what the song writer had in mind.
December 29, 2013 @ 2:01 pm
PS. This is Off Topic. I was thinking about buying the album and also thinking about that video of Alan Jackson in the Hank Williams T-shirt and started wondering… when are we going to be able to order Saving Country Music T-Shirts?
December 29, 2013 @ 2:20 pm
My stance on selling Saving Country Music merch is that I would rather people use their money to support the artists being promoted here instead of this site. Branding is part of running a website like this, but I never want the branding to supersede the music. Having said that, the economic realities are as such that in the future I may have to start selling merch if for no other reason than to help pay for the skyrocketing costs of keeping the site going. If and when I decide to start selling merch, I will let everyone know.
Thanks for the interest Phil.
December 29, 2013 @ 3:24 pm
I don’t think buying a t-shirt (for what? ~$20) is going to stop anyone from buying an album. If it payed for the cost of the site and a few albums and concert tickets so you could report back more on what’s going on to us, I’d be all for it. Really there’s some places it would just be fun to walk around in a SCM t-shirt. Ha imagine a CMT fan event and a few certain people seeing a lot of SCM shirts walking around. It might do some good. 🙂
December 30, 2013 @ 8:31 am
I agree with Phil totally. Merch is a no fail way to promote this great site. Count me in!
December 30, 2013 @ 11:13 am
Although I agree i think SCM t shirt would help those artists. I struggled to find new country music that I enjoyed until I found this site through FTM and some random red dirt website. If I saw someone with a t-shirt for SCM.com I would of checked out here much sooner and found those artist sooner aka spending more money and attention on those artists.
December 29, 2013 @ 4:05 pm
I had contributed to the fundraiser to make the album possible, and they sent me a copy. It has found itself among my favorite albums.
December 29, 2013 @ 7:18 pm
At “hushed and guilty”. I wholeheartedly agree Hank was much more intelligent than many may have given him credit. He wasn’t a “Hillbilly” however. He was from the south central pines of Alabama. Also an area stigmatized as backwards. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I know this because he and my grandmother were cousins. Though they all struggled through the depression, they studied, read, wrote. In fact, many well respected artists came from the same region. Truman Capote, Harper Lee. Hank was a complex man from a complex region.
December 30, 2013 @ 1:12 am
Great song. I suppose the rest of this album, too. The more tributes to ol’ Hank, the better.
December 30, 2013 @ 11:59 am
The recent spate of criticism of pop country by authentic country musicians, by rockers and even by the purveyors of pop country music (including some who must have experienced a road to Damascus conversion) demonstrates the need for an organized resistance movement against the pseudo-country genre which pervades the radio, and now television, airwaves.
I would like to see this site serve as the name and face of that resistance movement.
At a minimum, I would like to see Trig serve as a contributor to Rolling Stone’s new country music magazine (which I am excited to see).
I have always thought that Rolling Stone had a lot of incisive reporting, so I don’t think that its country magazine will serve as little more than advertising for the big label artists, at the expense of the artists who faithfully follow the path set by atrists like Hank and others.
December 30, 2013 @ 8:42 pm
That’s flattering for you to say CAH. Honestly, the attempts at uniting people behind the common purpose of Saving Country Music over the years haven’t gone well, even when folks like George Jones and Tammy Wynette were trying to do it. I think we have to focus on causes, battles, and issues, and winning them will help incrementally win the war. The energy and effort it takes to unite everyone to a common purpose can usually be better spent tackling the issues directly, and trying to unite everyone usually just descends into infighting and turf wars.
As for Rolling Stone Country, I won’t lie, I would love to take one of those positions. And at the risk of sounding arrogant, they would be fools not to hire me. I’m also not afraid to say that if I had the information of how to throw my hat into the ring, I would aggressively pursue it. But unfortunately, there are so many people who want to work for Rolling Stone as some sort of romantic fancy, it’s not very easy to get real info on how to let them know that you even exist.
December 30, 2013 @ 8:25 pm
I agree with you, CAH, about Trig serving as a contributor to Rolling Stone Country.
December 31, 2013 @ 3:56 pm
I forgot to add that I work a couple of blocks from the old Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, which is now a beautiful old office building.
Everytime I see it, I think of Hank’s last night on earth, because it is where he stayed before getting on the road and dying in the seat of the car he was riding in.
To me, it is akin to hallowed ground, but I suspect that less than 10% of the people in Knoxville know its rich history.
I feel the same way, even moreso, when I pass through downtown Nashville and see Ryman Auditorium.
The time I actually toured the Ryman a few years ago, the reverance that came over me, when I viewed the stage and contemplated the icons of our genre who had stood on it, was kind of like the silence and respect which comes naturally when you go to a funeral home.
Tonight my thoughts will be with the man.
Thanks for remembering him.
December 31, 2013 @ 6:07 pm
New Years’ Day is the anniversary of the death of two of my favorite artists: Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt. They died exactly 40 years apart.
Rest in peace, fellas.
January 1, 2014 @ 11:34 am
Make that 44 years.
January 5, 2014 @ 6:37 pm
I would love to wear one of those T-shirts. Where I live….cowboys/cowgirls would be asking me where they could get one. They would go over big at major rodeos. Yep. I see rodeo cowboys all of the time buying their music.
They are absolutely the sweetest bunch of gentlemen and they love Hank Williams, me too.