Hank Williams’s final days remain a mystery. The events surrounding his death are still controversial almost 60 years later, and a new film called The Last Ride: a story of Hank Williams will probably add fuel to the fire when it opens in select cities on June 22.
Williams had hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to a New Year’s Day concert in Canton, Ohio. The Tennessee area was experiencing an ice storm, so Williams could not fly. He was also not feeling well; perhaps it was exhaustion, drugs, liquor or a combination of all three. Porters had to carry Williams from the Knoxville hotel room and place him into the backseat of a Cadillac for the trip. When Carr stopped for gas in Oak Hill, W. Va, he realized Williams was dead.
The film is a fact-based drama inspired by Williams’s last days on the road. Fans of the singer should note that the film does not use the singer’s name for the character, and there is no music by Williams on the soundtrack. The movie stars Henry Thomas and Jesse James; Harry Thomason directed the film.
The soundtrack to The Last Ride: a story of Hank Williams features songs from Williams’s daughter, Jett Williams, along with Nathan Young, Russ Taff and many others.
Jett has been conducting her own investigation into her father’s death. In a recent newsletter, she wrote a four-page article with the headline, “Was Hank’s death a homicide?”
Williams’s death will probably never be satisfyingly resolved. Officially, he was declared dead at the age of 29, on Jan. 1, 1953. The exact time of death may never be determined, but the trip in the back of the Cadillac proved to be his last ride.
Here’s how Williams’s death was announced in 1953 on WCKY radio:
The funeral service was held on Jan. 4, 1953, in Montgomery, Ala. Over 25,000 people gathered to pay tribute at the city auditorium, with only 2,750 able to get inside. The rest listened on a public address system. This is the service they heard:
Williams’s death certificate states that he died of acute ventricular dilation – his heart gave out. His gravesite is located in Oakwood cemetery in Montgomery.
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