Hank Williams is Born
He was born in Butler County on September 17, 1923. His father was a train engineer, his mother a church organist who raised him alone. She was his first music teacher in their modest, wood-frame Georgiana home (now a museum).
Guitar in hand, Hiram “Hank” Williams became one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century. Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne helped the youngster hone his skills, but Williams’ style would be all his own.
A move to Montgomery with his mother in 1937 helped propel Williams’ career. He sang on the radio, formed a band called the Driftin’ Cowboys, and began to build a name for himself. Soon, the Alabama crooner became a regular on “Louisiana Hayride,” a trend-setting regional radio program. Appearances on the “Hayride” helped propel Williams’ song “Lovesick Blues” to 16 weeks atop Billboard’s country-music charts. Many more hits followed. In June 1949, he stepped onto the Grand Old Opry stage for the first time. The Butler County native was a national phenomenon.
His music came from a deep, inner well of personal experiences: the struggles of his mother and hardscrabble Alabama childhood, broken romantic relationships, betrayal, alcoholism, longing and striving. Williams set all of it to music and sang it with full-throated earnestness. Linguists and musical scholars have filled books analyzing the imagery of the “Hillbilly Shakespeare’s” work.
His star burned bright, fast and for only a short while. As the world rang in the New Year on January 1, 1953, 29-year-old Williams died in the back of his baby-blue Cadillac, on the road from Montgomery to Canton, Ohio for a performance. An estimated 20,000 people attended his funeral in Montgomery. Thousands make the trek to his grave at Montgomery’s Oakwood Cemetery each year.
– Scotty Kirkland
Alabama Living Wins Tourism Media Advocate Award
Alabama Living magazine was named the winner of the 2025 Tourism Media Advocate Award at the Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism in late August.
The magazine has featured tourism attractions across the state as cover stories and special features over the last several years and regularly includes events and attractions in its Around Alabama events calendar and Spotlight feature.
The magazine is the official statewide publication of the electric cooperatives of Alabama and is the most widely circulated magazine in the state.
The magazine also won the award in 2018.
Whereville, AL – September 2025
Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative, if applicable. The winner and answer will be announced in the October issue.
Submit by email: [email protected], or by mail: Whereville, 340 Technacenter Drive, Montgomery, AL 36117.
Do you like finding interesting or unusual landmarks? Contribute a photo you took for an upcoming issue! Remember, all readers whose photos are chosen also win $25!
August’s answer: This Marathon convenience store reopened in 2024 after being closed for 20 years. It was Sara’s Grocery when the twin-engine, nine-passenger 1939 Beechcraft “landed” in 1981. The landmark at the Cullman-Morgan County line close to the town of Eva is known as “the airplane store” and is used by locals to give directions. (Information from WAAY. Photo contributed by Susan Lynn Allen of North Alabama EC.) The randomly drawn correct guess winner is Kendra Westmoreland of Cullman EC.
