The Man Who Changed Country

Hank Williams: Lost Highway Opens at Hayes Center Friday

Story by Anna Oakes

Pictured from left are Christopher A. Kent, Lisa Manuli, Drew Perkins, Ben Hope and Stephen G. Anthony, cast members in Hank Williams: Lost Highway, showing at the Hayes Center in Blowing Rock this Friday, August 21, through Sunday, September 6.

In just a few short years, Hank Williams, Sr. transformed country music—almost singlehandedly setting the agenda for contemporary country song craft, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Born in Alabama, Williams moved to Nashville in 1949 and swept the national music charts with his blend of blues, yodel and Southern twang and a songbook of hits that remain instantly recognizable almost six decades later.

The Blowing Rock Stage Company celebrates the legacy of this American music innovator with the musical biography Hank Williams: Lost Highway, opening this Friday, August 21, and continuing through Sunday, September 6, at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock. Show times are 8:00 p.m. on Fridays, 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. on Saturdays, 2:00 p.m. on Sundays, 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays.

The production documents Williams’ rapid rise from an obscure hillbilly to a country and western superstar and then his equally swift demise—which ended in the backseat of his own Cadillac, where he died at the age of 29 from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Before his untimely death, Williams gave the world such timeless gems as “Hey, Good Lookin’,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

Written by Mark Harelik and Randal Myler, Lost Highway is a tribute to the resiliency and fragility of the human spirit and a touching ode to the late Grand Ole Opry star, whose songwriting often steered in the direction of honest and autobiographical pain and heartbreak.

Myler himself is directing the Stage Company production, which also features Steve Anthony and Drew Perkins, members of the original off-Broadway cast.

“The collection of talent on this stage is as good as I’ve had for this show,” Myler said in a press release. “There have been many stories told of modern-day musicians who have died too young, but as far as I know, Hank was the first. He was also a bad boy, which always adds to his story.”

Ben Hope is cast in the leading role of Hank Williams.

“I’ve explored a lot of myself from rehearsing for this role,” Hope said in the release. “I’ve had some personal struggles in my life, so I can relate to some of what Hank went through.”

While Lost Highway covers the dark circumstances of Williams’ life and passing, the show is also an entertaining production full of humor, storytelling and song after song from the country singer’s catalog.

The show has received glowing reviews nationally. Rolling Stone describes Lost Highway as “exhilarating! A rare achievement in musical theatre,” while a writer for the New York Post called the show “the best example of a musican’s bio put on a stage I’ve ever seen.”

On opening night, the Hayes Center will offer heavy hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Glidewell’s in the outside courtyard at the Hayes Center on Friday, August 21, from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. In the event of rain, a tent will be erected or the event will be moved into the lobby. The cost is $10 per person, and patrons can pay in advance or at the door. Additional dinner and show packages starting at $82 per couple are also available at Glidewell’s, Bistro Roca, Crippen’s and the Manor House at Chetola.

Hank Williams: Lost Highway is the final show in the Blowing Rock Stage Company’s summer season. At the show’s conclusion, the Stage Company and the Hayes Center will temporarily suspend operations while the center enters a restructuring period, with hopes of reopening in 2010.

Tickets for Lost Highway are $30 for adults and $14 for students and are available now by calling the box office at 828-295-9627. Special group rates are also available with a 10 person minimum. The Hayes Performing Arts Center is located at 152 Jamie Fort Road off Highway 321 in Blowing Rock. For more information, call 828-295-9627.

Hank Williams, Sr. (1923 to 1953)

Born Hiram King Williams on September 17, 1923 in Mount Olive, Ala., Hank Williams was the son of Lon and Lillie Williams. Hank Williams was born with a spinal deformity that caused him pain throughout his life.

Williams learned gospel music from his mother, a church organist, and he picked up the blues and pop from a local black street musician. At age 16, he formed he first version of his legendary band, the Drifting Cowboys, and earned airplay on a local radio station. He performed in roadhouses across Alabama in the early 1940s, catching the attention of the Acuff-Rose publishing company, who landed Williams a contract with MGM the following year. Williams’ first MGM release—“Move It On Over”—was a hit by fall 1947.

In 1949, Williams’ version of “Lovesick Blues” hit No. 1 on the charts and remained there for 16 weeks. His debut at the Grand Ole Opry that year earned him six encores and a slot as a regular cast member. Williams moved to Nashville in June 1949 and hit the peak of his career, becoming one of the most successful touring acts in country music. All told, Williams had 36 top 10 hits in the country and western charts. On the side, he began to record a series of narrations, talking blues and gospel tunes under the pseudonym of Luke the Drifter.

After Tony Bennett covered Williams’ “Cold, Cold Heart” in 1951, Williams earned recognition as an important popular songwriter, and a slew of artists rushed to cover his songs, including Guy Mitchell, Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford.

A recurrent drinking problem reemerged with Williams’ career pressures, marital troubles and spinal pain, aggravated by an accident at his farm in Tennessee. Williams quickly became addicted to painkillers. He disbanded his group in December 1951 and began working with pickup bands, but by June 1952, he had stopped work altogether. The Grand Ole Opry fired him that August, and he went to work in Shreveport, Louisiana, performing mostly in beer halls. A quack doctor prescribed him pain medications, further compounding his drinking and drug ills.

On New Year’s Day, 1953, Williams was pronounced dead in the backseat of his chauffeured Cadillac en route to a show in Canton, Ohio, because of an overdose of drugs and alcohol. He was 29 years old.

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