Hank Williams had been on skinny ice with the organizers of Nashville’s already-fabled live performance and broadcast establishment, The Grand Ole Opry, when he pushed his luck too far on August 9, 1952.
Williams was nonetheless a significant recording star, however his wayward private life and unreliable conduct had been now resulting in severe profession recriminations. Along with his alcohol abuse generally getting the higher of him, he had missed many appearances on the Opry earlier than, in addition to different live performance engagements. In June, his film contract with MGM was cancelled; a couple of weeks later, he and his spouse Audrey had been divorced, for the second time, bringing their turbulent relationship to an finish.
Hank’s no-show for his August 9 engagement was one too many for Opry supervisor Jim Denny. Two days later, he fired Williams, bringing a tragic finish to a run on the present that had start in such glory solely three years earlier, when he grew to become the primary performer in Opry historical past to obtain six encores. The termination was doubtlessly all of the extra damaging as a result of the present booked performers for engagements all around the nation.
However, Hank’s reputation with record-buyers continued unabated, as did his creativity, not less than for now. Every week after the incident, he entered Billboard’s nation chart with what could be his subsequent No.1, “Jambalaya (On The Bayou).” Virtually concurrently, he was writing one other future favourite, “Kaw-Liga,” which grew to become an extra chart-topper — however by then, Williams had expired, at simply 29 years of age.
The Opry has usually acknowledged that it had by no means supposed his cancellation to be everlasting; poignantly, it had been supposed as a wake-up name which, sadly, he couldn’t heed. For a few years, his devoted followers have been campaigning to have Hank reinstated as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, in recognition of his enduring contribution to nation music as an entire.
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