What if Hank Williams Sr. Had not died in 1953?

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I am not sure how many of you are familar with music history, or for that matter the works of Hank Williams Sr. He is definitely worth checking out on Youtube. He combined the styles of Blues, Country and some Jazz before Elvis Presley stepped onstage in 1954. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack from pills and alcohol on January 1st 1953, at the age of 29, on a ride to a show in Canton Ohio due to a fake doctor who prescribed him pills . The doctor who gave him the pills actually was arrested for killing someone from pills.
I want to pose an alternate History, what if Hank Williams had never died in 1953, and had lived to lets say, 1973 or 1983? What would music history look like? His Death leaves us wondering what would've happened to him due to him being highly influential.


by the way here is a link about his death, and a link to his bio and a documentary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Hank_Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Williams

 
Earlier rock and roll, gets big by 53 not 54 with Bill Haley or not 55 with Elvis. Move It On Over is considered by some as the first Rock and Roll recording, in 1946.
 
another big question, if he had lived, would he have gone rockabilly or still done country music? also, what would his relationship be like with his son Hank Jr? if Hank Jr had been around with his father, would he have been steered from the mountain fall?
 
I am new here, so I apologize in advance if this wanders. Hank Williams is one of my favorites, and I’ve often thought about what would have become of his career if he had lived longer.



First, the music: Move It On Over does pre-figure rock and Settin’ the Woods on Fire is Rockabilly-ish. As to country music in the 1950’s: would he have endured? I’m not familiar with what changes that genre underwent in the 1950’s, so would his style, which certainly is not monolithic, have been “old-hat” as the decade wore on? His last demo “The Log Train,” has a folk music quality to it. Would that have been something that he could have done well with?

As to, if he lived longer: firstly, if he had never encountered Toby Marshall in 1952, and added whatever drugs he was then supplied with, how much longer past 1952 could he have survived, given his back problems and alcoholism?

Another route: the impact of the weather upon the circumstances of his death. Let’s say everything is the same, but no snow storm in late December 1952. He’s able to fly north for his shows on the 31st and January 1st; and makes them; or even, if driven, he doesn’t dilly-dally on December 30th and weather isn’t an issue from making his shows. Great, but from what I’ve read, he only had one other booking, in February 1953, so where does he go from there? Does he make it through the month of January 1953; get accepted back by the Opry? Honestly, it would be so nice to think that he was committed to making those two shows, and that something positive would result, but would he even have been around much longer into 1953 to record again, etc?
 
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