Hank Williams Takes His Final Bow - Today In Country Music History

December 19th, 1952

Hank Williams gave his final performance, at the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas.

Williams was scheduled to perform at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia on Wednesday December 31, 1952. That day, because of an ice storm in the Nashville area, Williams could not fly, so he hired a college student to drive him to the concerts. The Student, Charles Carr called the Charleston auditorium from Knoxville to say that Williams would not arrive on time owing to the ice storm and was ordered to drive Williams to Canton, Ohio, for the New Year's Day concert there.

They arrived at the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Carr requested a doctor for Williams, as he was feeling the combination of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he had drunk on the way from Montgomery to Knoxville. Dr. P.H. Cardwell injected Williams with two shots of vitamin B12 that also contained a quarter-grain of morphine. Carr and Williams checked out of the hotel, the porters had to carry Williams to the car, as he was coughing and hiccuping.

At around midnight on Thursday January 1, 1953, when they crossed the Tennessee state line and arrived in Bristol, Virginia, Carr stopped at a small all-night restaurant and asked Williams if he wanted to eat. Williams said he did not, and those are believed to be his last words. Carr later drove on until he stopped for fuel at a gas station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, where he realized that Williams was dead. The filling station's owner called the chief of the local police. In Williams' Cadillac the police found some empty beer cans and unfinished handwritten lyrics.

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SINGLES
2010 – Rascal Flatts – “Why Wait”
2004 – Tim McGraw – “Back When”
1999 – Clint Black & Lisa Hartman-Black – “When I Say I Do”
1993 – Doug Supernaw – “I Don’t Call Him Daddy”
1982 – Earl Thomas Conley – “Somewhere Between Right And Wrong”
1976 – Johnny Duncan – “Thinkin’ Of A Rondevous”
1971 – Charley Pride – “Kiss An Angel Good Morning”
1965 – Eddy Arnold – “Make The World Go Away”
1961 – Leroy Van Dyke – “Walk On By”
1954 – Webb Pierce – “More And More”
1948 – Jimmy Wakely – “One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)”

ALBUMS
2009 – Taylor Swift – Fearless
1998 – Garth Brooks – Double Live
1992 – Garth Brooks – The Chase
1987 – Randy Travis – Always & Forever
1981 – Willie Nelson – Greatest Hits (And Some That Will Be)
1970 – Johnny Cash – The Johnny Cash Show
1964 – Buck Owens – Together Again
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Hank Williams Takes His Final Bow – Today In Country Music History [VIDEO]