SHORELINES

11 a p c s hor e l i n e s.c om | 2015 Vol :1 Hank Williams is one of those rare American icons whose life and art were so enigmatic that his death before age 30 only gave birth to a mythology that has survived more than twice as long. Sure, there are the songs and the music. That is the most precious gift "Luke the Drifter" gave the world. The songs make Hank Williams as connected to us today as when he lived. But beyond that, the mythology exists where the spiritual touched the physical – where Hank Williams left footprints, sang his songs, married his muse, spilled his booze, strummed his guitar, dropped a baited hook in the water or just watched the sun sink behind a lake and trees from a porch swing. Alabama is rife with such places. There is his boyhood home in Georgiana that has been converted to a shrine to the country music legend and attracts everyone from true Hank Williams pilgrims to curious beachgoers looking for a sidetrack experience. There is the former garage in Andalusia where a justice of the peace married Hank Williams and "Miss Audrey" Sheppard in 1944. A giant mural of the newlyweds and historic marker may be one of the most photographed spots in Covington County these days. Then there is the Hank Williams Cabin on Lake Martin. The varnished story has Williams staying there with a radio DJ buddy at the request of his mother looking for a quiet place for her son to get a break from life on the road in August 1952. Opposite: Photo by Billy Brown — The Hank Williams Cabin is at Children's Harbor, the original site of the cabin. Inset: Photo by Billy Brown — The Hank Williams Cabin has been decorated as it was in the 1950s.

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