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Montgomery Dedicates New Year's Eve To Hank Williams

On New Year's Eve Hank Williams Fans Gather In Montgomery
12/17/07

"The eeriest thing I ever had to do in my life was at Hank's funeral when the various artists sang, I had to stand up there and play with Hank's coffin right below me. I can never explain how I felt playing his songs for somebody else the way I played for him with him laying in his coffin."
                       --Don Helms, 1992

Every year, on New Year's Eve, Hank Williams fans gather in Montgomery, Alabama, to celebrate the life and music of the King of Country Music.

At Hank Williams' funeral, the gathering was the largest crowd seen in Montgomery since the fall of the Confederacy. Williams earned a large following among the black community and many turned out for his funeral. Williams' love for gospel music was paid in tribute when the colored gospel quartet, the Southwind Singers, sang at his funeral.

Hank Williams died at 29 on January 1, 1953 in the back of his powder blue Cadillac on the way to a show.

James Calemine

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