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STORY: Country music legend and Alabama native Hank Williams Sr., considered by many to be the greatest country songwriter ever, was just 29 years old when he was found dead in the backseat of his Cadillac on New Year's Day in 1953. Fifty years later, Williams is the subject of a new documentary, "Hank Williams Sr.: Along for the Ride," co-produced by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) communication studies professors June Mack, M.F.A., and Larry Powell, Ph.D. The 55-minute documentary will debut on Alabama Public Television on Sept. 17 [2003], Williams' birthday. The film is unique because unlike other documentaries that have focused on Williams' stardom and his relationships with other Grand Ole Opry stars, Powell interviewed Williams' early band members from Alabama, a colorful cast of characters not usually featured in other documentaries. WHAT: The film's story line takes viewers through Williams childhood, his marriages, his struggles with alcohol and chronic back pain and his rise to stardom. The documentary also features rare photographs, including those of Williams with his early bandmates, The Drifting Cowboys. During his short career, Williams wrote 125 songs and recorded more than 225, with hits such as "Hey Good Lookin," "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Jambalaya," "I Saw the Light," "Take These Chains," "Honky Tonkin'" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," to name a few. "The stories about his short life - like his tragic death - come in many varieties as they have grown and changed in the telling over the years," Mack said. "To find out what Hank's life was really like, we found those of Hank's early band members who are still with us. This is an Alabama story, told by Alabama people. Many of Hank's early band members have never been interviewed by those who have produced other Hank Williams documentaries. And they are getting older. Each year one or two are missing from the annual Hank Williams Festival in Georgiana, Alabama. We made this documentary largely because we felt an urgency to get these stories on film." HOW: Powell, a long-time Hank Williams fan who grew up in William's hometown of Georgiana, came up with the idea for the film and asked Mack to work with him in bringing an early years perspective to Williams' life story. Most of the footage for the film was shot in Montgomery and Georgiana. "I hope viewers will appreciate the small town roots that served as the basis of Hank's music," Powell said. "Hopefully, they will also come to understand him more as a person - with strengths and weaknesses - as well as a musician." The documentary took 15 months to produce. Ward Haarbauer, Ph.D. associate dean of the UAB School of Arts and Humanities, narrated the film. Joe Walker, a recent UAB graduate, was a cinematographer on the project, along with Mack. UAB seniors Angela Hutton and Candace Early were the assistant producers on the project. June Mack, M.F.A., Producer/Director, has won 19 international awards in film festivals around the world, including the Student Academy Awards, The International Television Movie Festival, The Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival and the Canadian International Film Festival. She is an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Communication Studies. Larry Powell Ph.D., Producer/Interviewer, is co-author of the book Political Campaign Communication: Inside and Out, and author of Bottom of the Ninth: An Oral History on the Life of Harry "The Hat" Walker. Powell also produced a 1999 documentary about Walker. He is a professor in the UAB Department of Communication Studies.

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