Episode #96 | 2.22.22
Hank Williams: Sanatoriums, Poison Pills, and Fired from the Grand Ole Opry
In this episode
Hank Williams defined the genre we now call country with a guitar in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. In between stints in the local drunk tank, he cultivated a knack for blue-collar blues that would spread far beyond the backwoods South Hank called home. His self-proclaimed “hillbilly music” logged him more than 30 hit songs and membership at the Grand Ole Opry, fulfilling Hank’s lifelong dream. But his frequent bouts with the bottle would ultimately strip him of that membership, sending him from the Ryman Auditorium to the sanatorium—and ultimately, an early grave.
Sources
Hank Williams: The Biography, by Colin Escott
I Saw the Light (2015, dir. Marc Abraham)
Hank Williams Arrested: The STory Behind the Famous Photo (Saving Country Music)
Hank Williams: Hillbilly Shakespeare (Country Music Hall of Fame)
Hank Williams’ last ride (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Death Is only a Dream (Bluegrass Messengers)
Hank Williams, Sr., makes his Grand Ole Opry debut (History)
Why Hank Williams Won’t Be Reinstated in the Grand Ole Opry (Rolling Stone)
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Hosted, written, and scored by Jake Brennan.
Copy editing by Pat Healy.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak