Episode 40 Celebrating Storytelling and Country Music: The Mystifying Tales of Garrison Keillor and Hank Williams, Sr.
Dec 17, 2023
Randy
Ever wondered about the mystifying tales of Lake Wobegon and the captivating appeal of Garrison Keillor? Or perhaps you're intrigued by the life and legacy of Hank Williams, famously known as the "hillbilly Shakespeare"? Then buckle up, folks! This episode of Hot Mic with Houston and Hogan takes you on a fascinating journey through the art of storytelling, the charm of country music, and the power of personal narratives that have shaped our culture and society. We delve into the mesmerizing world of Garrison Keillor, explore the upcoming 50th anniversary tour of Prairie Home Companion, and pay tribute to the inimitable Hank Williams.
From the controversial last ride of Hank Williams to the legal battles over his estate, the surprise reveal of his illegitimate child Jet Williams, and the struggle of Hank Jr. to accept his half-sister, we leave no stone unturned. The raw emotion, the gripping suspense, the heartbreaking revelations - it's a rollercoaster ride you won't want to miss. And as if that's not enough, we also bring you intriguing stories about the Texas troubadour, Ernest Tubb. So sit back, relax, and join us as we celebrate the remarkable individuals who have contributed immensely to the world of storytelling and country music.
Ever wondered about the mystifying tales of Lake Wobegon and the captivating appeal of Garrison Keillor? Or perhaps you're intrigued by the life and legacy of Hank Williams, famously known as the "hillbilly Shakespeare"? Then buckle up, folks! This episode of Hot Mic with Houston and Hogan takes you on a fascinating journey through the art of storytelling, the charm of country music, and the power of personal narratives that have shaped our culture and society. We delve into the mesmerizing world of Garrison Keillor, explore the upcoming 50th anniversary tour of Prairie Home Companion, and pay tribute to the inimitable Hank Williams.
From the controversial last ride of Hank Williams to the legal battles over his estate, the surprise reveal of his illegitimate child Jet Williams, and the struggle of Hank Jr. to accept his half-sister, we leave no stone unturned. The raw emotion, the gripping suspense, the heartbreaking revelations - it's a rollercoaster ride you won't want to miss. And as if that's not enough, we also bring you intriguing stories about the Texas troubadour, Ernest Tubb. So sit back, relax, and join us as we celebrate the remarkable individuals who have contributed immensely to the world of storytelling and country music.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for joining us. We're glad to be back with you on Hot Mike with Houston and Hogan. I'm Randy, Houston and from Hogan.
Speaker 2:
Holler gave Hogan here. I started one time as a project. Unfortunately it didn't work out because I'm not that talented. But you know Lake Wobby gone and Garson Keeler and he would tell these stories about Lake Wobby gone Yo, I'm a big fan, yes, and he'd do these like five minute spiels on what's happened in Lake Wobby gone, right. And so I tried to come up with a similar program about Hogan Holler. You know the news from Hogan Holler this week and then right, right, but I wasn't talented enough to pull it off, but I could tell some stories and that was one of the problems.
Speaker 2:
You know you don't want to get on there and talk about the cousin that you had in Hogan Holler who would purposely set a forest fire and then sign on to fight the fire and get paid for it.
Speaker 1:
You know, you don't, you mention any names no you know, I just that's funny. Do you like Garson?
Speaker 2:
Keeler's work.
Speaker 1:
Man. I have been a fan of Garson Keeler for years. I'm so glad that in his 80s he's still performing.
Speaker 2:
He's doing a 50th anniversary tour as we speak around the country 50th anniversary of the Prairie Home Companion which ran on public radio 50, starting 50 years ago on Saturday nights man. And you know, Garson Keeler has a like you and a very broad appreciation of different kinds of music and he's brought a lot of country music to Prairie Home.
Speaker 1:
Companion Recording and producing his show. Doing his show in Nashville is one of the big highlights of his tour. It always has been and I think it still is.
Speaker 2:
He was sent to Nashville by Variety Magazine. Maybe it was one of the one of the top magazines, maybe Rolling Stone one of those magazines he's freelance for as a writer.
Speaker 1:
Okay.
Speaker 2:
And they sent him down to do a story on the Grand Velopry and that's where he got the inspiration for Prairie Home Companion.
Speaker 1:
Wow, I just love Prairie Home Companion. I, I uh. I've never been able to see him in person.
Speaker 2:
And neither have I.
Speaker 1:
We ought to go to this one of these shows.
Speaker 2:
You got an extra hundred hundred and twenty-five bucks. That's why he charges you to get in and save the show.
Speaker 1:
Garson A little steep but I'd pay it.
Speaker 2:
I really would. You know, I communicated with Garson Keeler by email.
Speaker 1:
Did you really Recently?
Speaker 2:
About streaming his shows where people like you and me could pay twenty-five bucks or whatever. Whatever price and he could, he would stream some of these concerts concerts that he's doing on the 50th anniversary of Prairie Home Companion.
Speaker 1:
That's a great idea, Dave.
Speaker 2:
So he has this technical people working on it.
Speaker 1:
You know there's so many people like you and me who used to tune in every Saturday night. It was part of our schedule, but we didn't miss the Prairie Home Companion. Those are the days before you could go online and capture a show that was played two weeks ago. No, uh, we. You had to catch it live on uh, on a public radio station.
Speaker 2:
I was listening on the way in my automobile, on the way over here to your studio to do this recording to Boomtown, which is one of his recent books. It's really stories about Lake Wobigone, really, and I ordered the audio version, the CDs that I'm playing in my car and you can't play CDs in your truck because they're on the way out, right? No CD player in your vehicle, right. But I was listening coming over here and he's talking about uh, he lives in New York now and he was talking about flying back to Minnesota, his home state, and going to Lake Wobigone which of course is a fictional town to a cousin's funeral.
Speaker 2:
And he's in the funeral on there and and the cousin is is laid out in the casket and a member of the family comes up and gets very angry because he's supposed to be buried buried in a blue tie and they got a red tie on it. And she is so angry and Karrison realizes he's wearing a blue tie, oh gosh. So they take the red tie off the cousin and put Garrison's blue tie. But that kind of thing, you know, he's so good at it, he's a storyteller extraordinaire man.
Speaker 2:
Telling those stories and he makes them so real in your mind.
Speaker 1:
And he closes out the every one of those with uh in my hometown, lake Wobigone, where the men are good looking and the women are above average, or something like that.
Speaker 2:
Something that makes your children are above average. Let's talk about Hank Williams, because, as we record this, we're coming up on the 71st anniversary of the death of the Shakespeare of country music, hank Williams.
Speaker 1:
I've never heard that term before, but it's very fitting Well I think somebody built him early on as the hillbilly Shakespeare.
Speaker 2:
The word hillbilly is not used in music much anymore, but that's pretty good.
Speaker 1:
Pretty good, pretty good title Very fitting Very fitting.
Speaker 2:
Elvis was billed as the hillbilly cat when he first came out there. Still, you can see them occasionally online, the old promotional posters.
Speaker 2:
Posters yeah, and he was billed as the hillbilly cat. Elvis Presley and Hank Williams was a hillbilly. Shakespeare died at the age of 29. And there's been a lot. Anytime a well-known person dies or anything out of the ordinary happens conspiracy theories and they kind of died down. Now it's been almost 71 years, but for a long time there were those kinds of conspiracies surrounding the death of Hank Williams. When did he die? Where did he die? What did he die of? On what has become known as Hank Williams' last ride from Montgomery, alabama to Oak Hill, kentucky.
Speaker 2:
In the latter part of the year 1952, there was a snowstorm moving across the south and part of the northeast and Hank Williams had two show dates that he had been booked on. One of them was New Year's Eve in Charleston, west Virginia. One was New Year's Day in Canton, Ohio, not that too far away from Charleston. So Hank had to get up there and he didn't have a driver, for some reason, to drive him in his Cadillac Egg shell blue I've heard it described as the color of Hank's Cadillac Brand new 1952 model Cadillac and for some reason he didn't have a driver to drive him to that the band members like Jerry Rivers and Don Hylms they were flying in or driving in from other cities, nashville or wherever they were. The band the Drifting Cabo was ever going to meet him there in Charleston and do that show in Charleston and then the show New Year's Day in Canton.
Speaker 2:
So Hank was going to travel by car and he didn't have a driver. So he had a friend, a longtime family friend, who ran a taxi service in Montgomery, alabama. So he went over and talked to him about it and he said I tell you what I've got a son who's a freshman at Auburn University, he's 17 years old and he needs a job and make a little extra money and I'm sure he would like to drive you to that show in Charleston, west Virginia. So a deal was struck pay the boy, 17 year old boy certain amount of money to drive Hank. So they left Montgomery and you know, the background.
Speaker 2:
Let me give you a little background on Hank.
Speaker 2:
Hank was known for alcohol, drugs, morphine, but he had a birth defect, what's it called a finer vif, vifada, spina vifada spina vifada with tremendous back pain, had a, had a problem with pain and a lot of people think drinking is a moral issue and perhaps it is to some extent, but I drank to try to ease the pain. Yeah, and you know people in the music business or any kind of show business. They've got a schedule to keep. They got to be on stage at a certain time. We all know about the problems that George Jones had with drinking and he would was nicknamed no show George because he missed shows. So it's a tough life. It's not the glamorous life that a lot of people think show business is. So a lot of his drinking and and drug use was to ease the pain and make it possible for him to go on stage and do a show. And you know he had several operations on his back and he became acquainted with a guy who passed himself off as a doctor and actually had a degree that he had purchased. That said, he was a doctor but he was a quack former inmate in prison and passed himself off as a doctor to Hank and and got him hooked on drugs, morphine particularly. Give him a shot of morphine.
Speaker 2:
So back to the story about the last ride. They left Montgomery, alabama, made a stop in Birmingham, a brief stop in Birmingham. They stopped in Fort Payne. They left the town of the group Alabama, a town in North Alabama, and Hank box box and whiskey there. They drove from Fort Payne to Knoxville and Hank's pain was so bad in the car they decided that they would fly from Knoxville on to Charleston rather than drive. So they went to the Knoxville airport. However, the I've heard conflicting stories as to whether the plane took off and had to turn around and come back because of the low ceiling and the bad weather, and I've heard it said that they didn't. The plane never departed. It really doesn't matter in the story, but they wound up staying in Knoxville at a hotel, the Andrew Johnson luxury hotel in Knoxville down on Gay Street at the time. So they checked in, got a little rest, stayed for a while and Hank developed a case of the hiccups which sent him into convulsions. He fell off the bed actually and bumped his head.
Speaker 2:
Now, but keep in mind that Charles the driver, charlie Carr, is with Hank and tells us these stories and he heard his head and so he calls for the hospital doctor or the hotel doctor. He came to come up and check Hank out and he gave him two shots of morphine and a shot of B12 vitamin B12. And said he's good to travel. But he was in such bad shape that the porters at the hotel had to carry him down to the Cadillac car and put him in the car to resume the trip to Charleston, west Virginia.
Speaker 2:
Wow, here again there are some contacting reports. Some reports say that he was roll, he was, he was went by wheelchair. But the most common way that I've heard that he was put into the car was he was carried. He was in that bad of shape and some people say that he died in Knoxville. But that's according to Charles Carr, the driver. That's not true because from Knoxville they started up a highway 11 W and there's a little town called Rutledge, tennessee, and Charlie was stopped for speeding in Rutledge. Then they drove on up to Bristol. Charlie stopped at a burger place, got a bag of hamburgers. He asked Hank if he wanted a hamburger and.
Speaker 2:
Hank got out and stretch, according to Charlie, and said no, I'm going to get back in the vehicle and rest and try to get some sleep. So we know that, according to the driver of the car, hank was alive in Bristol, tennessee, virginia. Which side which state they were on? Because the state lines right down through the middle of Bristol. Then they continued their drive and keep in mind they're not on interstate highways, they're on two lane mountain roads, what?
Speaker 2:
we call country mountain roads. That existed back in 1952. They left Knoxville, drove up Highway 11W, got that speeding ticket near Rutledge, then stopped in Bristol. Charlie bought a bag of hamburgers. Hank said no. Then they continued their drive on up to Bluefield, west Virginia. By this time Charlie had been driving you know, counting the stops along the way about twenty hours. Wow, a long time, yeah. So he was so exhausted. He stopped in Bluefield and his dad owned a taxi stand down in Montgomery, alabama, as I mentioned earlier. So he thought he might find somebody to help him drive the rest of the way, because he said I just can't go on, I'm tired, I'm sleepy. You got to get Hank up to Charleston. Let me backtrack for just a moment at this point, Somewhere along the line, and I'm not sure how, because this is long before cell telephones.
Speaker 1:
And.
Speaker 2:
I got a message from AV Bamford. Mr Bamford was a big name in the promotion business at that time and he was the promoter of the show in Charleston he be held on New Year's Eve. This is the first show that Hank was headed to. He got a call from Bamford that that show had been canceled Because of the weather. Because of the weather, it proceed on to Canton Ohio. Oh, ok, for the show there. So they are actually at this point. They were driving not to Charleston but to Canton Ohio so they stopped in Bluefield. Charlie goes to a little restaurant which is located right near. He was looking for the taxi and because he was familiar that industry, because his dad on a taxi service and Montgomery County, he thought there might be a driver available Right and we could hire to give me a break. I'm tired, I can't go any further.
Speaker 1:
You've been driving in this hazardous weather on mountain roads.
Speaker 2:
So there's a little restaurant right next to the taxi stand, as we call it. I had an uncle who drove a taxi and a cab driver. A taxi stand was a very important part of the community.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely.
Speaker 2:
He was a taxi driver early on, very important part of the community and there was a, as I said, a little restaurant next door and he went in that restaurant, engaged in conversation with one of the employees there in the restaurant, and he said, pointed in the back, and he said that fellow right back there is a cab driver and he just got off his shift, why don't you talk to him? So he went back and the man's name was Don Surface, donald Surface, and he agreed to give Charlie a break as a driver and drive the rest of the way to Canton, ohio, for the show. So Don takes over the driving in Bluefield and Charlie immediately goes to sleep In the passenger seat In the passenger seat.
Speaker 2:
Hank, of course, is in the back Right. So they're driving up through Beckley, West Virginia, on to towards Canton, and in a little town called Oak Hill, Don, the driver at the time makes a wrong turn and kind of gets lost and he pulls into this gas station to get directions. I think everybody knows. I wanna say to that man it was Mike Christ �ffa, and by this time Charlie's aroused from his deep sleep, looks back and hanks had a coat, like an overcoat, spread across his body on the drive to keep warm, cold weather.
Speaker 2:
And Charlie notices that that coat has slipped off of Hank and it's in the floorboard. So he reaches back and gets that coat. He's in the passenger seat, front seat of the Cadillac. Get that coat and put it on Hank and he realizes something is wrong. Hank is not moving. He feels of him and he feels so he goes into a panic mode.
Speaker 2:
You know what? What's the matter with Hank? Engage him in conversation. He takes a look and he said, boys, he might be dead, you better take. There's a hospital so many miles six, eight miles down the road here is to the hospital. So they jump in the car and here again there's conflicting reports of whether Charlie drove the car to the hospital or whether Don drove the car to the hospital. But they rushed to that hospital and the people at the emergency room small hospital in a small town come out and take a look and they say, well, this man's dead. They don't know Hank Williams, this man's dead.
Speaker 2:
And Charlie goes into panic mode. Is there nothing you can do to try to revive him? No, he's dead. Looks like he's been dead for a good long while. So of course that's where it listed on Hank's death certificate as having died in Oak Hill, west Virginia. Well, nobody knows exactly where Hank died or exactly when he died, but at some point between Bristol, tennessee which is the last communication that Charlie had with Hank somewhere between Bristol and Oak Hill, virginia, Hank Williams died. He could have died in 1952, december 31st, but he was found dead in the car in Oak Hill, west Virginia, and that's the story of Hank Williams last ride. Then of course, it was a national story.
Speaker 2:
Right, right, 25,000 people are estimated to have been in Montgomery, alabama at his funeral and Hank Jr said this now, so I'm not talking out of turn, because Hank Jr Bo Seifas said this he said my dad was despised by a lot of people. My dad was envied and jealous from a lot of people. A lot of people were envious of him and jealous of him. A lot of people despised him because of his drinking. But when he died he became a saint. Wow, 25,000 people showed up at the funeral which they put up, I believe, speakers outside and a lot of the country music greats at the time, like Red Foley, roy A Cuff came to the funeral and performed.
Speaker 2:
And you know there was another side of Hank Williams too.
Speaker 2:
Hank lacked gospel music, sang a lot of gospel music, but he also went into another character called Luke the Drifter and recorded recitations Be careful of stones that you throw while they're singing.
Speaker 2:
Along with the recitation On the sunset was another one, and Red Foley performed that song at Hank's funeral. But Fred Rose, who was the publisher A Cuff Rose who published Hank Williams' music when Hank insisted on it. He was such a big star they could not keep him from recording those gospel-type songs that had a story, a message. But they were afraid that the publishing people like Fred Rose, who owned, along with Roy A Cuff A Cuff Rose Publishing. Hank's music was so popular and I think we talked here on the podcast about how important jukeboxers were in those days, right, and they said, hank, if you put this out under the name Hank Williams and somebody goes, somebody's in a honky-talk and they put a quarter in there or whatever it costs to play your music, and it comes up that you're preaching with one of those gospel-type songs like I saw the light. Be careful of stones that you throw songs like that.
Speaker 2:
It won't work, so they came up with a suit on them, luke the Drifter, and he recorded under the name Luke the Drifter who recorded these particular types and it's hard to categorize them. Really. They're not exactly gospel songs but they're songs with a moral message. And I'll never forget being in the dressing room sitting under a terium with Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry Lee Lewis actually carried into his dressing room a record player, legged it in and he sat there. I'll never forget he sat there with his hands on his chin, like, like, like so, head kind of bowed, listening to Hank Williams as Luke the drifter doing those recordings and Jairley Lewis, king of rock and roll, sitting there with tears coming out of his eyes. Wow, I'll never forget that scene. Wow, in Asheville, at the city auditorium, in the dressing room now he was in. We've all gone through that times.
Speaker 2:
I got a kick recently of listening to John Prine's music me too and and at this point in Jairley's life that's what he was listening to right was Hank Williams as Luke the drifter and I ain't never did deny Like on stage he would say things like I got a friend of mine here, his name is Luke the drifter and he's gonna do a tune for us and he would do one of those and he'd do one of those, luke the drifter.
Speaker 2:
Wow well so that's the side of Hank, that he insisted on recording those songs with a message, and so if you have a mind to go to the internet, you'll find a lot of Luke the drifter tunes.
Speaker 1:
And I'm gonna do that because I've been intrigued. I've been playing a lot of Hank Williams senior music on my show lately and just really getting into the songs like move it on over and setting the woods on fire and you're cheating heart, and oh the list goes on and on. To be 29 years old, how he had already had a ton of hit songs.
Speaker 2:
And of course a lot of his music was released after his death. Like you're cheating heart, I believe, is one of them, and I got acquainted with Hank jr by promoting country music shows, shin digs at the Asheville City auditorium, and For several years I would buy telephone, interview Hank and Play the interview on January 1st anniversary of his dad, dad. So some of what I know from of Hank Williams comes from his son, thank you.
Speaker 2:
Yeah right and it was a tremendous shock when he died, even though everybody knew he was you. He couldn't live much longer the way he was going, but it was still a shock. When he died and he died without a will. There was a lot of controversy about his estate is a state and who gets what. His mother was still alive so she Took over his. I Remember listening hearing their reading about Charlie Carr saying he was kind of shocked when he was talking the telephone to Hank's mom down in Montgomery. One of the first things that she said was be sure nothing happens to that car. Talking about that Cadillac that.
Speaker 2:
Hank died in, so Lily, his mother, took over management of the estate and she died and Hank's sister, irene, took over management of the estate. There were a lot of lawsuits involved as to who owns what, and Then the story came out that Hank had what? The? I don't like the term illegitimate child because I don't. I don't think anybody should, because I don't think anybody should be called illegitimate, but that's the term that was used in those days and Later on this she recorded under the name of jet Williams, who was the so-called illegitimate child of Hank Williams, and so she got involved in Her what she considered her share of the Hank Williams estate, and so there were a lot of lawsuits and it finally got settled right and Hank Jr had a had a hard time accepting her as a sister, but finally did, and so that's a story of somebody who's, as I mentioned, called the Shakespeare of country music and deserves it and your story.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, dave, for filling us in on what happened 71 years ago this coming New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I appreciate you telling us that story and We've got more stories for you here on hot Mike with Houston and Hogan, and we sure do appreciate you joining us Every time we have one of these stories.
Speaker 2:
We're gonna talk about the Texas troubadour Ernest real soon.
Speaker 1:
Oh boy, I have some Ernest hub stories for you Be sure to click the subscribe button for another episode of hot Mike with Randy Houston and Dave Hogan.