7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7vocalist, the “Hillbilly Shakespeare,” as he often was called,
also experienced great crossover success in the popular
music market. His iconic status was amplified by his death
at age 29 and by his reputation for hard living and heart-
on-the-sleeve vulnerability.
As a boy, Williams was the musical protégé of Rufus
Payne, an African American street performer who went by
the name Tee-Tot and busked on the streets of Georgiana
and Greenville, Ala. Probably taught his first chords by
Payne, Williams began playing the guitar at age eight. He
made his radio debut at age 13; formed his first band, Hank
Williams and his Drifting Cowboys, at age 14; and early on
began wearing the cowboy hats and western clothing that
later were so associated with him. During World War II
Williams commuted between Mobile, where he worked in
a shipyard, and Montgomery, where he pursued a musical
career. At this stage Williams began abusing alcohol, a
problem that haunted him the rest of his life, but that
came about partly as a result of his attempts to self-
medicate agonizing back pain caused by a congenital
spinal disorder. Later he would dull his physical pain with
morphine, but when he sought to relieve the heartache of
his tumultuous relationship with Audrey Sheppard, whom
he married in 1942 (they divorced in 1952), alcohol remained
his painkiller of choice.
In 1946 Williams landed a songwriting contract with
Acuff-Rose Publications and began composing material
for singer Molly O’Day. Later that year he received his first
recording contract, with Sterling Records; however, it was
on the start-up label MGM that he had his first hit, “Move
It on Over” in 1947. Shortly thereafter he became a regular
on the newly created Louisiana Hayride radio program
based in Shreveport, La. His breakthrough moment came
in 1949 with the release of “Lovesick Blues,” an old show