Hank Williams Museum

The Hank Williams Museum at 118 Commerce Street in downtown Montgomery is the definitive collection of artefacts relating to the man who is widely regarded as the founding father of modern country music. The centrepiece is the powder blue 1952 Cadillac convertible in which Williams was riding when he died in the back seat on January 1, 1953, somewhere between Knoxville and Oak Hill, West Virginia -- a death that remains one of country music's defining tragic facts. The car is displayed exactly as it was; the sight of it is quietly devastating.

Hank Williams packed an extraordinary amount of creative output into a career that lasted barely six years at the national level. From his first MGM release in 1947 to his death at 29, he produced 'Your Cheatin' Heart', 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry', 'Hey Good Lookin'', 'Jambalaya', 'Cold, Cold Heart', 'Lovesick Blues', and dozens of other songs that defined what country music was and could be. He was born in Butler County, Alabama in 1923 and grew up in Greenville and Montgomery, absorbing the blues from a street musician named Rufus Payne (known as Tee-Tot) who taught him guitar as a boy.

The museum is open daily in downtown Montgomery, a few blocks from the Alabama State Capitol. Alongside the Cadillac it holds Williams's stage clothes, instruments, handwritten song lyrics, personal photographs, and recordings. Montgomery has recognised Williams as one of its most significant citizens; he is buried at Oakwood Cemetery Annex on Upper Wetumpka Road, a short drive from the museum, where an ornate white marble monument marks his grave.