{"id":89918,"date":"2025-09-17T09:30:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T13:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=89918"},"modified":"2025-09-16T07:08:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:08:37","slug":"happy-birthday-hank-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=89918","title":{"rendered":"“I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin’ like myself.” — Hank Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s his birthday today.<\/p>\n

He came to Nashville and he just set this whole world on fire. He was the first one to go to Las Vegas as a country singer, he was the first one in a major hotel in New York City to work. He opened a lot of doors for us. Of course he closed a lot of them for us later on in his career when he really got into trouble with his boozing and his personal life and all. When Hank got into his own personal problems later on, it completely ruined him, in a way, in the industry. It didn\u2019t ruin the love that people had for him but it hurt him from the booking \u2013 bookers wouldn\u2019t take chances on him because they knew if they booked him they might have an auditorium full and Hank, 1 time out of 10, might show up. He was in so much trouble personally. They had made an addict of him anyway when he fell off that horse and hurt his back and they gave him morphine. So Hank suffered. I know I\u2019ve seen him on the floor on his back, tears running out of his eyes it was hurting so bad. It\u2019s a sad thing. People that don\u2019t know say, \u2018Oh, he died a dope addict.\u2019 Well, that ain\u2019t really true. He died a sick man.
\n\u2013 Faron Young, singer\/songwriter<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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