Hank Williams
Hank Williams' legend has long overtaken the rather frail and painfully introverted man who spawned it. Almost singlehandedly Hank set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft, but his appeal rests as much in the myth that even now surrounds his short life. His is the standard by which success is measured in country music on every level, even self-destruction. Hiram Williams (his name was misspelled "Hiriam" on his birth certificate) who was born on September 17, 1923, came from a rural background. His parents were probably strawberry farmers when he was born, although his father, Lon, later worked for logging companies around Georgiana in south Alabama. Hank was born with a spinal deformity, spina bifida occulta, that would later have a deleterious impact upon his life. Lon entered a Veterans Administration hospital in 1930 when Hank was six, and Hank rarely saw him until the early 1940s. Hank’s mother, Lillie, moved the family to Greenville, and then to