19
w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
I
Didn't
Die
I
Didn't
Die
in
Montana
in
Montana
Hank
Williams
Jr.
Hank
Williams
Jr.
on
Ajax
Mountain
on
Ajax
Mountain
I
Didn't
Die
I
Didn't
Die
in
Montana
in
Montana
T
he saga of country music in America has all too
often been a road map of fortuitous rises and ca-
lamitous tragedies, usually in that order. It had
been that way for Hank Williams Sr., whose meteoric rise
as the "Hillbilly Shakespeare" was mirrored by his de-
scent, ending in the backseat of a 1952 Cadillac. That was
the rhythm; rise and fall, rise and fall.
Not Hank Jr. His story, or at least the part of it that
takes place between 1975 and 1978, is the inverse: a tale
of downright gruesome tribulation followed, implausibly,
by great success.
But on August 8, 1975, success seemed very far away.
In fact, Hank Jr.'s chances of survival seemed mighty slim
as he lay in the sun, covered in blood and melting snow.
by NICK MITCHELL
