Hiram “Hank” Williams was born on September 17th, 1923, and by the year 1937 Hank had begun his career as one of the early pioneers of blues and country music. Hank was born in a small town in Alabama called, Mt. Olive. Hank was the third child of his family. His dad, Elonzo “Lon” Williams, worked on railroads for a lumber company during the first seven years of Hanks life until his father started having health issues. Elonzo fought for two years in World War 1 and years later he started suffering from facial paralysis due to severe injuries he sustained. So, for the next eight years of Hanks life were spent separated from his dad, because his dad stayed in Veterans Affairs clinic in Pensacola, Florida. At this time Hanks mom, Jessie “Lillie”
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All of his band members were drafted to serve in the military, while he got a 4-F deferment from the military draft after falling from a bull during a rodeo in Texas. Many of their replacements refused to continue playing in the band because of Williams' worsening alcoholism. He continued to show up for his radio show intoxicated, so in August 1942 radio station WSFA fired him for "habitual drunkenness." During one of his concerts Williams met backstage his idol, Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff, who later warned him of the dangers of alcohol, saying, "You've got a million-dollar talent, son, but a ten-cent brain." He worked for the rest of the war in a shipbuilding company in Mobile, Alabama, as well as singing in bars for soldiers. In 1943 Williams met Audrey Sheppard on a medicine show in Banks, Alabama. Williams and Sheppard lived and worked together in Mobile, Sheppard later told Williams that she wanted to move to Montgomery with him and start a band together and help him regain his radio show. The couple were married in 1944 in a Texaco Station in Andalusia, Alabama, by a justice of the peace. The marriage was declared illegal, since Sheppard's divorce from her previous husband did not comply with the legally required sixty-day trial
All of his band members were drafted to serve in the military, while he got a 4-F deferment from the military draft after falling from a bull during a rodeo in Texas. Many of their replacements refused to continue playing in the band because of Williams' worsening alcoholism. He continued to show up for his radio show intoxicated, so in August 1942 radio station WSFA fired him for "habitual drunkenness." During one of his concerts Williams met backstage his idol, Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff, who later warned him of the dangers of alcohol, saying, "You've got a million-dollar talent, son, but a ten-cent brain." He worked for the rest of the war in a shipbuilding company in Mobile, Alabama, as well as singing in bars for soldiers. In 1943 Williams met Audrey Sheppard on a medicine show in Banks, Alabama. Williams and Sheppard lived and worked together in Mobile, Sheppard later told Williams that she wanted to move to Montgomery with him and start a band together and help him regain his radio show. The couple were married in 1944 in a Texaco Station in Andalusia, Alabama, by a justice of the peace. The marriage was declared illegal, since Sheppard's divorce from her previous husband did not comply with the legally required sixty-day trial