On this day (January 1) in 1953, Hank Williams died at the age of 29. At the time, he was dealing with constant pain from a back surgery meant to treat his spina bifida, and his personal life was on the rocks. However, he was still playing clubs across the United States. He took his final breath in the early hours of New Year’s Day 1953, in the backseat of his Cadillac on the way to a concert in Ohio.
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Williams was scheduled to end 1952 with a concert at the Municipal Auditorium in Charleston, West Virginia. Then, he would play the first show of the New Year in Canton, Ohio. However, the weather turned ugly with rain turning to ice and snow across the Southeast. As a result, the show in West Virginia was canceled. Williams and his driver, Charles Carr, would have to drive through the night from Knoxville, Tennessee, to make it to Canton in time.
Countless conflicting reports of Williams’ final hours exist. However, it is generally accepted that he was in poor health when he got into the car to take his final ride. He had a persistent case of hiccups and indigestion, which prompted Carr to fetch a doctor. The doctor administered two shots that contained vitamin B12 and morphine.
Williams didn’t make it to Ohio.
Charles Carr Recalls Hank Williams’ Final Hours
Charles Carr sat down with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2002 to discuss Hank Williams’ final hours. He was just 17 when Williams hired him to drive to a handful of concerts. However, he still clearly remembered the final hours he spent with the legendary singer/songwriter.
They hoped to spend the night in Knoxville. They even got a room at the Andrew Johnson Hotel. However, they only had time to rest and eat a meal before they had to get back on the road. “We talked a while and ordered dinner up in the room. As I remember, Hank didn’t eat much of anything. He had the hiccups real bad,” Carr recalled. “Looking back, maybe the hiccups or the indigestion could have been the beginning of a coronary,” he observed. Williams’ cause of death was heart failure.
They left Knoxville, Tennessee, at 10:45 PM on New Year’s Eve. They had 500 miles of pre-interstate ground to cover as the snow continued to fall.
Many reports say that Williams was drinking heavily during his final trip. Carr, on the other hand, says that isn’t true. “He had a very low tolerance for alcohol at that point,” he recalled. “We bought a six-pack of Falstaff in Montgomery before we left, and there were several cans left when he died.”
Williams’ Final Hours
Carr remembered stopping for gas and a snack in the early hours of the morning. However, he didn’t know exactly where he was. It was either Bristol, Tennessee, or Bluefield, West Virginia. “I remember Hank got out to stretch his legs, and I asked him if he wanted a sandwich or something,” Carr recalled. “He said, ‘No, I just want to get some sleep.’ I don’t know if that’s the last thing he said. But it’s the last thing I remember him telling me.”
They got back on the road and, before long, Carr started to worry. He and Williams had been talking most of the way. Now, though, the car was eerily quiet. As a result, he pulled over to check on his passenger. “He had his blue overcoat on and had a blanket over him that had fallen off. I reached back over him, and I felt a little unnatural resistance from his arm,” Carr recalled.
Knowing something was wrong, he pulled into the next service station he saw and asked for directions to the nearest hospital. He was given directions to nearby Oak Hill, West Virginia.
“I ran in and explained my situation to the two interns who were in the hospital. They came out and looked at Hank and said, ‘He’s dead.’” He had been dead long enough for rigor mortis to set in.
“I’m an old man,” Carr said. “But Hank Williams never had to worry about that. He’ll always be young to me.”
Featured Image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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