The Hank Williams Story
Larry Burton Crocker
Larry Burton Crocker is Hank Williams in the “Hank Williams Remembered Show,” at the Owen’s Theater, in downtown Branson. Larry takes you on a journey of Hank’s life from his first recorded song through the pre-mature end of his up and down career.
Larry Burton Crocker is amazing as Hank Williams. Several reasons for this include the fact that Larry looks amazingly like Williams. He not only looks like him but he acts like you would imagine him to act and sings in Williams’ voice. The most amazing fact, told nearly halfway through the show, is that Larry was born on the same day as Williams. There must be something in the stars.
Many artists have tried to replicate Hank Williams on stage. None can be so successful at doing so as Larry Burton Crocker. The Owen’s Theater is a perfect venue for Larry’s Tribute to Hank Williams. The theater, built in 1935, has the look and feel of Hank Williams’ era. Larry Burton Crocker plays Hank Williams to the nth degree.
Throughout the show, the history of Hank Williams is told with explanations of how each song came to be.Such as the time Williams went to a music house in Nashville and asked for a job with them.Fred Rose, of the newly formed Acuff-Rose publishers, asked Williams to write a song for him on a subject that he alone would choose.Too many newcomers had been asking for work and using other people’s music, saying they had written it.
Williams agreed and Fred Rose told him to go back to his hotel, write the song and come back when he had finished.Thirty minutes later, having never left the building, Williams knocked on Fred Rose’s door stating that the song was completed.Rose did not believe him, but Hank Williams sang the song he had written, “Mansion on the Hill.”This song was later released on MGM records and became a hit.
Topping the country charts for sixteen weeks in 1949, “Lovesick Blues” stayed in the listings for another year.Through the success of that song, Williams was invited to perform on the Grand Ole Opry.His first performance of “Lovesick Blues” garnered him six encores.Hank Williams had arrived.This allowed him and his band, the Drifting Cowboys, to get one-thousand dollars per performance.This was also the beginning of Hank’s roller-coaster ride in life.
Crocker sings most of Williams recordings.Williams wrote of life, its faults, its ups and downs, drinking, women and love.Hank Williams wrote songs mainly of his own life, loves, pains, ups and downs.He wrote songs that the average person on the street or in the bar could identify with.In 1952, Williams wrote a song in praise of Cajun food called “Jambalaya.”It went to the number one position overnight; while another of his songs, “Half as Much” was number two.Williams became the first country music superstar, and as such, became a showman.He wore custom suits with musical notes on them.He drank too much, tore up hotel rooms, threw money from windows and took too many pain killers for a back injury he had suffered early in his life.All this took its toll on the super star and caused a rapidly developing spiral downward for him.
Eventually, in 1952, the Grand Ole Opry, preferring it’s entertainers to be sober and a good reflection on the institution, fired Williams because of missed appearances and drinking.Hank Williams was thrown back to playing small clubs with pick-up bands.
In 1949, Hank Williams had a son named, Randall Hank Williams.He nicknamed him “Bocephus,” after a wooden dummy used by Rod Brassfield.Well, Randall grew up to be better known as Hank Williams Jr. and went on, through his own tragedies, and two Emmys, to become a star in his own right.
“Bocephus,” recorded a post-humous video with his Father, “There’s A Tear in My Beer” that was widely acclaimed and sold 250,000 copies.Larry Burton Crocker, through southern ingenuity, performs this two-part video with different costumes.It is something you must see.I have never seen anything performed in the wayLarry Burton Crocker does both Hank Williams Senior and Hank Williams Junior, at the same time.
Having recorded 170 different songs, it was uniquely ironic that Hank Williams’ last song was, “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive.”It was as if he knew his destiny.His plaque at the Country Music Hall of Fame has the following inscription, “The simple beautiful melodies and straightforward plaintive stories in his lyrics of life, as he knew it, will never die.”I think when Hank lay down in the back seat of that Cadillac in 1953, seeking solace from the pain of life, he already knew of that inscription and where it would be written.
For information and tickets call, 417- 336-2112
Authors Note:It is interesting to note that my last couple of articles were written about two of our all time legendary country stars, Patsy Cline and Hiram “Hank Williams.”They were both born in September, a decade apart, both died under tragic circumstances, both were twenty-nine when they died and both became legendary after their deaths.Perhaps the stars do have a story to tell.
Courtesy of Branson Daily Independent