{"id":15834,"date":"2019-06-10T23:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1807824"},"modified":"2019-06-10T23:00:07","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T05:00:07","slug":"hank-williams-made-his-opry-debut-70-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/hank-williams-made-his-opry-debut-70-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Hank Williams Made His Opry Debut 70 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">14m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R46WSbXpMpE?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R46WSbXpMpE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/hank-williams\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Hank Williams<\/a> was a disaster waiting to happen when he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry on June 11, 1949, less than a month after the birth of his son, Hank Jr.<\/p>\n<p>By this time, he was already a heavy drinker, a spendthrift and was enmeshed in the first of what would prove to be two messy divorces from his wife, Audrey. He also suffered from excruciating back pain that would plague him for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n<p>On the plus side, he was a certified musical genius, both as a songwriter and a performer.<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo\" id=\"21fd7604\">\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"><noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;img&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.85&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=481 481w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=660 660w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=768 768w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=980 980w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1200 1200w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1500 1500w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/GettyImages-80810050-1560188546.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800 1800w\" title=\"WSM Portrait\" class=\"js-srcset-img shortcode-image portrait\" alt><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<div class=\"photocredit\">Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For his Opry debut, Williams wowed the crowd with \u201cLovesick Blues,\u201d his recording of which was still No. 1 in <em>Billboard<\/em>. Legend has it that the crowd gave him six encores. \u201cLovesick Blues\u201d wasn\u2019t one of Williams\u2019 own compositions, but \u201cMind Your Own Business,\u201d the other song he sang that night, was, and it soon earned him a Top 5. Ahead of him lay 10 No. 1 singles, although three of them would come after his death.<\/p>\n<p>Williams immediately became one of the Opry\u2019s most popular members, working as a headliner in national and international \u201cpackage shows\u201d with such other luminaries as Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Little Jimmy Dickens and Red Foley.<\/p>\n<p>In early 1951, Williams topped the country chart with his \u201cCold, Cold Heart.\u201d His publisher and sometimes co-writer, Fred Rose, pitched the song to rising crooner Tony Bennett, who took it to No. 1 on the pop charts later that same year.<\/p>\n<p>Rapidly, Williams\u2019 appeal reached beyond his country music base. In August 1951, he set out on a concert tour that featured such radio and movie favorites as Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Milton Berle and Jimmy Durante. The tour was aborted a month later when its sponsor was sold \u2014 but not before Williams gained valuable crossover exposure.<\/p>\n<p>Williams\u2019 popularity also secured him national television appearances on <em>The Perry Como Show<\/em> and <em>The Kate Smith Evening Hour<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For a variety of reasons \u2014 ranging from too heavy scheduling to his increasing alcohol and drug consumption \u2014 Williams began missing performances or performing while visibly impaired. On Aug. 9, 1952, he missed a scheduled Grand Ole Opry appearance and was fired from the popular radio show two days later. For someone who revered the Opry as much as Williams did, it was a calamitous blow.<\/p>\n<p>In their 1983 single, \u201cThe Conversation,\u201d Hank Jr. and Waylon Jennings \u201cdiscuss\u201d the elder Williams\u2019 turbulent life. The most poignant lyrics occur near the end of the song when they sing, \u201cMost folks don\u2019t know they fired him from the Opry\/That caused his greatest pain.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NtWhEfjLhRM?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NtWhEfjLhRM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1807824\/hank-williams-made-his-opry-debut-70-years-ago\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 14m ago Embedded from www.youtube.com. [embedded content] Hank Williams was a disaster waiting to happen when he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry on June 11, 1949, less than a month after the birth of his son, Hank Jr. By this time, he was already a heavy drinker, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 03:46:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}