"My Father, Hank Williams" by Jett Williams

well Jim probably jump up in say he's no  friend of mine but I can I do consider Jetta a good friend and Keith also and it is indeed  a pleasure to to have to have this opportunity to introduce her to y'all today I have been to  quite a number of these programs at lunchtime over the years and I will say without fear  of contradiction this is the biggest crowd I've ever seen not only as this room filled  but that room over there is filled also so I think that indicates that dr. bridges  and the Friends of the archives and Lee sin tale and choosing hang Williams as the  highlight of this year of Alabama music arca treats presentation was indeed a an appropriate  selection as you all know Hank Williams has no peers when it comes to Alabama music and sound  coming through the speakers we could talk just do I have to start over don't interrupt me  now I'm trying to sell it damn back up later well my guitars not teamed-up have you got it  now all right we don't want to call the ride by other group over there because honestly never did  any of you didn't look you look in there there's as many people over there okay this one's working  well he was working in here but it wasn't working over there but as I was saying having having Hank  Williams as the highlight it was a great decision and and then I've known yet very well since 1995  I was present Alabama national fair and I broke debt and Keith to Montgomery for her to open the  fair which I thought was very appropriate since her daddy was the first live entertainment  in the Coliseum after it was I would ready all right I like the last order I can do that  but Hank was the was the first live entertainer to perform in the new Coliseum when it was built  back in in the early fifties when it was completed and so I thought it was appropriate to bring  Ted chin Keith and I and Florence have been friends ever since and somebody asked me if they  said what if what do you think about introducing Jett Williams at the arca treats lunch and I said  my goodness introducing Jeff Williams to a group of Alabama archives friends is like introducing  Princess Diana to the people of London I said that's precedent that's a no-brainer out there  that anything but anyway Jeff was born here in Montgomery in 1953 five days after her daddy  died and she was put up for adoption and led a rather different life for a number of years  but I think a good life and I'm about 1980 she decided she wanted to find out who she really  was and by 1990 she was writing a book telling who she was the daughter of Hank Williams and  the title of the book was Ain't Nothing Sweden my baby for no box was my babe I believe in  weekly pointed and but anyway it is a great honor to introduce Jett Williams an own daughter  of Montgomery absolutely a great entertainer in her own right and his showing great success  all over the country and all over the world for that matter following in her father's  footsteps and you you all should be very very pleased to have her here today and I'm pleased to  introduce you to Jet Li the only daughter of Hank welcome to the entertainment world we are now  going to do a sound check make sure that those good folks over on the other side can hear me and  also not only do we have the dual rooms here we have a high schoo Douglass High School in Martin  County that is live streaming here this afternoon which is wonderful with today's technology and  the fact that you'll be able to bring in your your school's your high schools to where you bring in  speakers and things like that that they can share a part of the history and those that are here to  tell their stories and I'm sure they'll give me a heads up that I'm I'm into the next room well okay  first I'm just going to say what an honor it is to come back to my home state of Alabama and to be  asked to come here and share my story and what is going on with the Hank Williams story to all of  you folks that have come out this afternoon and I want to personally thank each and every one of  y'all for coming here you know it seems kind of ironic that I'm here telling my story because the  story was really written in the city of Montgomery and I know many of you are part of my story I look  at it at the audience and and I see family from my adopted family the Dupre's from my sisters from  the great University of Alabama and oh by the way congratulations over I no longer need this okay  well you can have it back then thank you but also to the audience is also represented by people that  played a role in my legal pursuit some of the the judges and the families that heard my case made  decisions on my cases or in the audience and so it started here and I'd like to tell it here two  things about a woman me I can tell you how much I weigh and I can lie but I can't lie about my age  because I would lose a lawsuit what happened to me is probably the most unusual adoption stories  that you'll ever hear many of you know me by Kathy Dupree sister Dupree antha Bell Kathy cook Kathy  mayor Kathy Atkinson and you wonder where did the jet Williams come from well I've had eight names  been adopted two times and and for false drops so what we did was we took my natural mother's  name Bobby jet and my natural father's name Hank Williams and since I was a product of the two we  joined the names and you get jet Williams and with that name that it encompasses all of the homes and  all of the periods in my life to come full circle and stand here before you all today I grew up as  an adopted child and like many adopted children I decided I wanted to go out on the search to find  out who I was and what happened well I did and I'm one of the very fortunate adoptees and the fact  that most of my questions I got answers but the best part work it was the answers I wanted to  hear as in I put you up for adoption I didn't want you then and I don't want you now and I speak  all over the country on adoption and I tell people but when you make that step be prepared because  you may get the answers you don't want to hear but I'll just give you a fact of just my personal  every adopting that's ever gone in that search I've asked and they said they've never regretted  making that journey even at the worst answers to their questions because they said I know who I  am I believe in myself I have people that love me and they shut that part of their life on and  they move on well what happened to me was you have a very interesting week that took place back  in 1952 here in Montgomery there's a gentleman by the name of Hank Williams he's headed out to go  to Charleston West Virginia for a show on New Year's Eve then on to Canton Ohio he says to his  mother I want to leave this letter and I want to leave this money just in case if the baby comes  before I can give back so he heads out he dies enroute the official date of death is January the  1st 1953 his body is then transported back here to Alabama for a funeral on January the 4th and  I'm also proud to say that the minister the game Theo eulogy Reverend Lyons his son is here today  in the audience so they bury my father on the 4th and I'm born before the Sun comes up on 6 well  from there my natural mother allows my grandmother to adopt me her name was Lily Ann Williams Lillian  skipper for Lillian Stone it takes her two years to complete the adoption process because she says  that she's the grandmother but back in those days you didn't have the DNA to wear today you can go  right in and in a matter of seconds or minutes lineage can be proved or disproven so the state  of Alabama says we believe you but you have a heart condition what happens to the baby if we let  you adopt this baby because you're divorced you're really not a good candidate and she says I got  it all set up I have a daughter her name is Irene Smith and Maya daughter met with sted about me  her daughter met with the state of Alabama and she says all best thing that could ever happen to mama  and anything happens to mother we will keep this baby and truly part of the family and so with that  I'm adopted another name change Katherine Yvonne I found out Katherine is for the Katherine and the  movie oh well movie handbook withering Heights and Yvonne is I'm the Ivana in the song jambalaya  my sweet Yvonne and so unfortunately for me my grandmother dies two weeks after this adoption  well the family that said that they would care for me and love me have me parked at the state  of Alabama's pension security within days of my grandmother's dead saying we do not want this  baby we want the baby put up for adoption we want everything on this baby buried we don't want  anyone to know who this child is so off to the foster home down in Pine level Alabama wonderful  people as I was reunited with them and they actually Jimmy their son as an adult he whipped  out his wallet and he had carried my picture in in his wallet all those years swearing that  he would find his foster sister these people I think made a really big part of my life because  it was at the time I was 2 years old and I think at that time it's very important to the children  to have that debt all lumped and embracing and in the hugs and the love then I was prepared to go to  another family and at that time I went to Mobile Alabama to a family by the name of Dupree at the  time I just assumed I was adopted in fact I can actually remember driving up to that house but the  Duprees did not adopt me until I was getting ready to go to the first grade now remember I've got  hindsight which is the best sight if they said so things that happened to me during my life I  didn't know why they were happening or agreeing to causes and one of the cause was that the reason  the difference did not adopt me at that time was because I was being sued by my aunt Irene and why  was this aunt suing me well when her mother died remember I have never been adopted so I've been  I've been elevated to the state of not being a granddaughter but now I'm a daughter and so she's  suing me over our mother's estate unfortunately unfortunately for me at that time the state of  Alabama did not recognize an adopted child as a legal heir so therefore I did not inherit it all  went to my hand but what did happen was that the state of Alabama realized how unfair that law was  and they changed the law based on what happened to me and changed the law to where an adopted child  is consent is considered a legal heir and what they did they mean the state of Alabama there is  some kind of legal thing and they decided how much it would cost to house me and feed me and they put  it into account unfortunately it wasn't put in an interest-bearing account but still there was money  set aside so I go on and I live my life down there in Alabama and I maintain that my life rent on two  tracks because here I am down in Alabama playing sports having friends going to high school going  to college and here's this other track because the state of my father is still open and they  are dealing with this child with me without my knowledge and they're even trials in the 60s based  on Hank jr. duan to be the so he went to point his Guardians and at that time the court say oh no you  can't do that there's possibly another child so we got to keep this whole thing going here and  so and all that group was without my knowledge so it wasn't until my adopted dad called me up  and said do you want to find out whether or not Hank wings is your father I need to back up for  just a second people say when's the first time that you're in the name Hank Williams associated  with you it actually took place when I was at the University of Alabama and my adopted parents came  up well my daughter parents never came to Alabama they are they oh they were supported but but they  really didn't go to the ball games or or go to things that I participate in so when they came now  BAM I was I was quite excited and couldn't quite figure out why they were there so my adoptive mom  and I had this conversation and she says up I need I want to tell you something because she need  go to Montgomery and you're gonna go there you gonna pick up this check I said okay yes ma'am and  she said oh she said I'm gonna tell you who might be your father but there's no proof and there's  nothing you can do and so I said yes ma'am said oh well he's from Alabama Diaz and I went no I  am she has well he was in music you know he is no male she said well he was famous you know he  is and I went famous musician Elba Nat King Cole and that is the truth and of course she she kind  of okay you know it sorry when I think because I was I was basically stunned and then she made  to make sure that I understood that that that this wasn't necessarily so there wasn't any  proof and there wasn't anything that I could do and she also told me too that everything had  already been decided and then she was telling me this because I was to go to Montgomery and pick up  this money so I come to Montgomery and of course I walk in there's nobody there there's no cameras  there's no lawyers and all the guy says to me is constant your driver's license so I hand the  jobs license key and me an envelope and by the way it was $2,000 which I did apply to my college  education and so from there you know I you know I knew them if you're from Alabama you don't know  Hank Williams as well then you're not from Alabama so uh you know I I went on with my life and it  was then when my adopted father called me and said I know would you like to to try and find out  whether or not I Queens is your father and if you do I will help you and I will give you what little  information I have but he also stipulated is let's don't tell your mother so well unfortunately my  adopted mother had a lot of mental problems and and other problems and I think that he thought  it would be best not to put this burden on her because what people don't really realize is when  they got when the Duprees got me when I was three years old and this is not a very good comparison  but it's kind of like giving a child a puppy and saying how you can't love it you can't hold it  because we might have to take that baby away from you so when the Duprees got me here they've  got a three year old and I'm a foster child there because I'm in the middle of the litigation which  means you know you may get to keep me you may not get to keep me nobody knows what's going to happen  and I think that that hurt my relationship because you know you're in it you're in a home where  people don't want to let their guard down for fear that they might lose that and children I  think feel that and they know that they're not getting that extra hug or that that unconditional  love if you would have to pick a name so with that blessing and one thing I will tell you this one  of the courts actually realized that there is an emotional release to adopt a child from their  adoptive parents that they recognized in the fact that adopted children a law will not move forward  because they feel an obligation to their adoptive parents for giving them a home giving them blood  and letting and letting them be a part of your family and I thought that that was very gracious  of them of the courts to realize that there is that emotional bond there and so I went on my  search to try and find out whether or not I was the daughter Frank Williams and what happened one  of the first things I did and not fortunately for me I did not have the internet and all of the  research tools we have today so I had to do it more the Raymond Chandler way I had to pay on the  streets and go to the library and you know trying to my research so I thought who have who would  know and I thought hello your natural mother so I thought okay I'm going to find this person and  so I started out well first I had to find out who she was so I read an article in Montgomery by a  cousin of Hein Queens who gave an interview and I thought okay this is great I'll go I'll go see  this person and she's going to give me all all knocking y'all might think I'm a lawyer okay so  I pretend I'm a journalist because I figured you know I just woke up to a dork I think I'm cream  store you know that they're not Oh speak to me so this woman's name was Marie and she lived here in  Montgomery and so I went to her house knocked on the door until I was journalist and she looked  up and she said well can you come back I said what time she said give me an hour I said okay  so I left and I came back and this old lady had real thick coat bottle glasses and everything and  so when I got in there she said uh let me see er so I showed her my left arm there's no show me  your right arm and I showed it my right arm and on my right arm is a scar that I received when  I lived with my grandmother it's pretty defined and in fact was st. Margaret's hospital I think  I went to in fact they were going to cut my arm off I found out but there was a new surgeon that  before performed a experimental surgery and saved my arm and when she saw my arm she looked at me  busted into tears says oh my babies come on and if she grabbed me up oh I found my mother and  push me back and she says I'm not your mother so she said oh I often wonder where you were and  I wonder what happened to you and she was the one that started giving me a few names of course her  whole attitude was I wasn't at the heaven and I wasn't at the gettin so I don't know so she told  me the name Bobby Jill in Nashville so I started calling every jet in the phonebook and oh you  know sometimes people say wanted to take you so long well the thing that is you'd get a piece  of information you run that down and then it would go cold and then you grab another face so  anyway I ended up finding the Jets I also went to the Department of pension security to see  if I could get my adoption records well bless their hearts of the minute up I guess my name  came through on the phone I was bumped up all the way to the top and they set up they set up a  meeting to meet with me so I went in the lady had a followed she sat down wonderful lady and she  basically said well you have a mother and a dad and they worked and it was so sanitizing there  were no details it wasn't anything and often at that time this was a true thought I thought how  much jail time would I get if I just climbed on that table just kind of hit a little bit overhead  knock her out I read my file and run but of course I didn't do that and I you know I kept saying  well can't you tell me you know those are my records I deserved my records and she said well  you know unfortunately the law says that you're not entitled to them so by then I had basically  given up hope I had had every door slammed in my face I had run down every lead that I could  and then by chance just chance there happen to be an investigative attorney from Washington DC  data and ghost shorts in my hand Helen from the adoptive family said this is goddamn they want  you telling what you know and see if he can help you well I drove down there and this lawyer  almost didn't meet with me you know because oh yes sure yeah Elvis Presley hiked waiting to know and  but he did and that that meeting changed my life completely he said to me said I will help you  but you've got to remember you you may find out you may not find out and you may find out that you  know they're not the interest you want to hear and he says also once you start this journey there  is no turning back once you would you said when you start talking about names like this and I had  the newspaper clipping that my doctor dad gave you where it says possible child complicates Williams  trial and in it it references a contract a piece of paper and he looked at me says you know there's  more to this than meets the eye and he also understood that all I wanted to know what was on  the daughter that's all that I set out to do and so well you'll be surprised when we show up with  the lawyer how the doors will open and they we'll change real quick and so we went to the archives  and I'll tell the story only and of course you know when they said that they said we can read  you your file but we can't show it to you well we got these little things that are call recorders  and batteries so when we sat down the first thing lady said to us are y'all recording this oh no  ma'am well when that click went off during that meeting when when the bet no and ran out of tape  was up it was a loud click and she just kind of looked up at us and kept ready so anyway we want  doubt of what one of these state buildings she saw he said to me he says if they'll read them  to us they'll get into us and so from there we got up anyway we sued the state of Alabama for  my adoption records in which the pitches and securities did not fight us which meant I was  allowed to get all of my adoption records and papers and things that I had never been entitled  to and of course the other side being Hank jr. and Roy Acuff they did not want me to give my records  because they said there might be something in those records that were going to hurt them well  they were right and so we got the record and we read it and also I was very privileged that in  there the social worker they had all this is my grandmother's house had detailed down to what I  was wearing and by the way my first stage was my grandmother's dining-room table with the cowboy  hat and the guitar and the social worker says and the child is singing your cheatin heart so so  I had my first performance here in Montgomery but for me to be able to actually see a documented  record and papers concerning me of hood who didn't do what because most of my life has been  changed with the struggle again whether it be a social worker the probate judge the circuit judge  the Alabama Supreme Court the federal appellate courts someone looks at the paper and they make  a decision whether I go to this family of that family or whether I win or I lose so I just want  to say this about the lawyer yeah well I ended up marrying him I hate my Lake Oh Billy all everyday  but I just like talk about time passes y'all we're going to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary  this year which is so with the information and everything there is a document it's a three page  document which is called the pre birth custody contract in which my father had his lawyers draw  up in October of 1952 and in this document it all it pertains to is what is going to happen to the  child now I haven't even been born and my natural parents Silas document along with my grandmother  ended is notarized and as far as I know this is the only notarized signature of my father you  know most everything that has his name on it may or may not be his signature but this one is and  in this pre-burn custody contract it talks about the topic and it says the father will do this and  the mother is going to do that and that the child will live with the father be supported by the  father but can visit the mother during the SARS and what makes it very interesting to me is that  these two people put the unborn child above their personal lives or whatever but it also says that  they were going to maintain a relationship for the rest of my life in the fact that they had actually  gone as far as to work out visitation but thing that made it for me and had I not the best I hope  that someone could tell me this was your father I have a legal document signed by my father saying  the father hiked waves but more importantly than even Hank Williams being my father is that I was  wanted that he stepped forward in 1952 and said I'm the father and I'm going to take the bag  now I think in a way that's kind of one of the father's first rights that he actually stood  up and said you know it had been easy to say here honey years X million dollars and buy it  on won't ever see you again in fact I learned too that my parents were together in August of  1950 to a little place called Collider where you wrote two songs in August of 52 one of them was  Collider and the other one you wrote that week in which a cheating heart and she's pregnant with  me and they're together and she comes that she lives at my grandmother's house all the September  October November December and January until I'm born so so there was a great deal of interaction  in this so when I found out that I was wanted and that obviously it was easy to beat a dead man  and a baby I talked to my attorney my husband actually that time we were married and I said  you know I want the world to know because I was wanted and we made that announcement and I got  saved deal of course we ended up to swing back and it ended up being a nine-year legal battle  but had and they said what kind Quinns is your father but he didn't want you to want anything  to do with you I would not be Gillian's and I would not be standing here today but because he  did sign the papers his grandmother did take me I wanted the world to know who I was and that  I was wanted well when I got sued that landed us in all manner of Courts is kind of like the  bush-gore deal where you're in state court in federal court in appellate courts because was  also being fought in the Atlanta federal court as well as the New York federal court and a lot  of people think that that Hank jr. not were the only two people fighting well what happened they  got into what they call copyrights and publishing over my father's of music catalog and what had  happened in Nashville a there was a company called acre frogs and acuff-rose had had the ownership  and the publishing well they found out that I was alive well and kicking and they fire sold the  company to offer land but didn't disclose that I was there and had a meeting well so they have to  sue me along with Warner Brothers arborlon male music act during your wake up Wesley recommend  just a whole page full of bugs because of the business end because my lawyers were alleging  not only am i the daughter but I have the right to inherit and if I do in here this is part of  what's going to be considered for the estate and in that was what was called the publishing  rights because unfortunately Frank Junior's his got sold for him as a miner but mine didn't so we  maintain that I retained the publishing rights so we go through the court battles and and actually  on the lower court judge mark Kennedy had the a paternity case now also you just can't say your so  and so and go into court okay so when I got sued that allowed us my husband and I to go to court  and do a paternity test and it was actually very interesting of court hearing in the fact that we  had paper we had witnesses and we presented our case and then when they were asked to present  their case they stood up and said we rest but they offered they offered nothing and in fact  what they did this will agree that she is but she can't have anything and so the judge said okay  I'm going to rule he ruled that I was the daughter but I couldn't have anything so we appealed that  and I'd actually learned the landmark my case is actually a landmark case in fact that on this they  teach in trust to the states and I laughingly say that I was the best kept secret in country music  because everybody knew who I was but me and one of the Oh on the on the major ruling in fact  though Keith and I were actually on i-65 we've been down to Oh it was right after the fourth of  July we've been down in Alabama at the beach and we were driving back and our little red pickup  truck and we get a phone a message and we pull over now it's I saw it's the prattle and not the  Holiday Inn and this reporter says well how does it feel to win and kisses win what they go the  Alabama Supreme Court ruled and you want well I don't know how quick you can go for prep go  back to Montgomery and we put we pull though all our red pickup truck right up there in front  of the Supreme Court and one of the secretaries were standing there and she had the order and  everything and of course she handed it to us and Keith and I read it and we both cried because  when I made the announcement I was the daughter a lot of girl knew me and you know to see in the  paper that you claim to be you know girl claims to be and that I even maintained that for part  of the time I thought my middle name was alleged because she alleges to be and all those all  great words offer but uh so you know so when we got that ruling and basically what it boils down  to is that what you have to remember is that the attorneys and the administrators for my father's  estate kept his estate open for 23 years okay to run the statute of limitations on me now also  people say what do you think Hank jr. well if you're older than I am and you're having to wait  to get all the money you got a pretty good idea that that you know that there's another child  and that there are complications and but anyway so what the courts ruled was that that my identity  was concealed from me not from my protection but for their financial gain in the fact that letters  had surfaced between the lawyers saying aren't you don't you think we should contact her don't  you think we should give her some money and one of the almost smoking guns writes back and says  absolutely not we've got her buried she'll never find out who she is just let sleeping dogs lie  so the courts ruled that they knew who I was and actually they knew where I was and that they  had kept the estate open which they were all collecting their legal fees and everything but  because they did not notify me and that because of these letters stating that they knew they made  a willful decision not to notify me that the court ruled in my favor and not only was I the daughter  Frank Williams and wanted by her father but also that I was able to participate as an heir to the  estate I want to also say that my natural mother by the time I found out who she was that she had  passed away in 1975 so I never did get to meet her but I did go out and meet her children which  today I have a wonderful relationship with the so now I've had the honor of being the daughter  and one thing that my husband and I have tried to do with this legacy that I have been so  privileged to inherit is to go forth and share my father's memory his music and to travel around  the world and let people know about this young man that came from the great state of Alabama and  what his impact is on this country I'd like to say that oh I had a great honor in May to go to  Columbia University and I received the Pulitzer Prize on behalf of my father Hank Williams and  I wanted to read it says that oh I was looking for the closure fledge but to stand there in the  Rotunda and to all to have them say that Hanks Pike Williams was the Shakespeare of the common  man makes it see I have a lawyer come up here make sure I'm doing it right anyway to stand there  and have him receive the spirit sir which is the greatest academic honor that that anyone in our  country can receive I mean you're talking a Ernest Hemingway William Faulkner and when I walked out  they had hey good-looking playing in the rotunda and so you know as I said up it said you know  it said that it honors hikes craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed Universal feelings with  a poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical  and cultural force in America's life and he set a bar that yet no one has ever reached in fact  there's an old saying that Hank was so far ahead of the pack you didn't know anybody was following  him and of course my husband and I have written a book as ain't nothing squeeze my baby and it's  also out and lost-and-found when the book came out the Library of Congress selected it they  have a committee that picks the top 100 books each year and they put it into Braille and audio  in every major library in the United States and when this book came out it was selected as one of  the top 100 books in the country and was put into Braille and audio and I was also invited to be  a keynote speaker as an author at the Library of Congress do there's a lot going on in the what we  call the Hank life there's a movie that's already been made and it's supposed to come out this  year and it's called the last ride these good folks that made the movie did not consult the  estate they just went hadn't made the movie and of course you know I grabbed my heart thinking  you know because there's so many myths about my dad and miss spinners that you know we didn't know  what it was going to be but had a private viewing of it and I fell in love with the movie and it  starts here in Montgomery Alabama and it's the last 72 hours of my father's life I'm also proud  to say that in the soundtrack they took two of my original songs and I have four cuts in that movie  and there's another major motion picture being done with Universal and Mark Abraham which will  probably come out in a couple of years and also home box office one is wanting to do a miniseries  on top of that but I would I would have to say that of all the things that I've had the honor  of and also tow people too I've had a thousand once and lifetimes I because of having honor of  being the daughter I have been allowed to have be honored and privileged from from the being  invited to the White House to the Oval Office deaf president the United States tell me and this  is a President Bush he had Keith and I there and he said to me when he met me he said well Jenna  you know I lived in Montgomery when I was down there Maxwell he said you know my favorite thing  to do I said no mr. president guys I get me a case of cold beer and one of my girlfriends I got then  Sitra did he pray and I think every Hank Wiggen son and I think it's oh my gosh I'm in Oval Office  with the President of the United States but I mean you know that and that now that's one of those  one 1001 lifetimes but uh talking about his music one of the things is that until not so long ago  all the world knew of hi Queens basically was an eight-by-ten glossy photo and an MGM record that  had a yellow label on it well the lost daughter got the lost recordings and on the box and for  those that can't say it is a vintage radio in fact if you turn the knob it will actually play  the jingle from WSM radio and when you open it up there's 15 CDs and a DVD there's also a hundred  page book and then there's a map in there where you can track when you hear the radio show you  can actually go over and say oh my gosh II was in Birmingham Alabama now this is 18 hours that has  never been released and it's a hundred and forty three songs that unless you were listening to the  most Dutch radio show that morning you would have never ever heard and this is what you're so  rich is my debt along with cousin Louie buck from Alabama they host these radio shows that  aired at 7:15 in the morning and in here you get to learn about hankerings because he tells you  what his favorite song is he tells you why why singing something he songs like blue-eyes crying  in the rain and I had some young person come up and go I didn't know your dad did a Willie Nelson  song but it is so rich and I'm going to be taking questions and answers but before I do that I  selected a cut from this box set and this is a song that my dad wrote he only sang at this one  time it didn't ever get recorded but he also sets the song up and I think when you listen to this  you'll just see how much that ohai loved Alabama well I'll keep talking to him the name of the  song is the Alabama walls and in the setup talks about all about he talks about Montgomery  being a suburb to op which I thought was precious and is there any way we can have the recording  they're working on it but we'll play the jingle they are not is that's an actor laughs an  accident turns companies David yep I just came back from California where I was nominated  for Grammy as executive producer and our laws but at least I lost to the Beatles but but still  to be to get that Grammy nomination is is worth worth everything because it's not I mean it's  important the fans are the most important but also too when you get into a business whether it's  for the state of Alabama or doctor or a lawyer or a teacher to have your peers in the industry  and what you've chosen is profession to say you know we're going to put you in the top of the top  for the work that you've done so that's something that I'm very proud of also included in that is  a DVD where I interview the last of some of the gentlemen that were actually on the recordings  of this including the engineer and this is very historical and the fact this was cut on acetates  which is a metal disc then transferred over into what we have today but since maybe what they'll  find this recording our referenced and until then I'll be more than happy to build any questions  and answers from from folks I must dump pretty good if you have a question please raise your  hand and yes sir just a moment let's dig into the microphone sub is equal to the other group  and hear the question thank you very good Tom Oh in that precious okay this guitar is in the shape  of a the state of Alabama excuse me dead go ahead female about my home state and  you're not about see what same thing I'll have this Tennessee war  graphical I think Alabama Walter I and as an elephant don't like to be a foreigner  going really down there below on the a skirt we only answered right on a special memory yeah well  if we call a gold star to the Ricky Kyle place they might have 250 right now you go through  children one go I loose it but number surberg Louise Lucille is he doesn't word here for  you but the best party not ever home a tooth in and three words to this three we understand  mother's best ball and the other thing here's the name of maybe so they were the finest  guarantees perfect baking results mother's best bar yes even with Allison well as you can  tell those and can you imagine there were 72 shows and also to I'm very honored that I host  a up an hour radio show on Sirius XM this is a book on Roadhouse and it also airs on Wednesdays  and Friday nights to where our host the mother's best show is called Hank Williams inside the  box but anyway back to the guitar this coming year is the year of music here in the state of  Alabama and the state commission Gibson guitar to make this particular guitar with the finest of  wood in the shape of our great state of Alabama my wife is too shy to tell you but  she is the last person that your father dedicated a song to the night  of January a bigger symbol out here in Montgomery and moving on there you  go thank you so much appreciate that

Channel: Alabama Department of Archives & History

Views: 254,691

Rating: 4.7515526 out of 5

Keywords: Hank Williams (Musical Artist), Country, History, Alabama, Country Music (Musical Genre)

Id: 4pTF_-DgahU

Length: 53min 33sec (3213 seconds)

Published: Wed May 02 2012