Hank Williams- I Can't Help It

Rufus Payne's(Tee Tot's) Memorial- He was Hank Williams First Music Teacher

Born in Lowndes County, Alabama, Rufus Payne grew up in New Orleans in midst of jazz musicians. Young Payne learned every instrument possible. At death of his parents, he came back to Greenville where he soon had a following of both races, playing jazz and blues for all segments of society. In nearby Georgiana, he met young Hank Williams, an eager student of the rhythm and beat of Tee-Tot’s music. In 1937, Williams moved to Montgomery and soon thereafter Tee-Tot came to the city where he lived until his death in 1939, a friend of Williams’ family and mentor to the singer-composer. Hank Williams stated that Payne was his only teacher. Tee-Tot died a pauper and lies in Lincoln Cemetery in an unmarked





Thursday, August 10, 2006


Hank Williams mentor buried in obscure grave



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS








MONTGOMERY, Ala. — In Oakwood Cemetery, signs direct the faithful and the curious to the much-visited burial site of country music legend Hank Williams Sr., a monument that includes depictions of his hat and boots.

A few miles away, the man who taught Hank to play the guitar lies in an obscure, uncertain grave.

A 9-foot-tall white marble stone at the entrance to Lincoln Cemetery announces that Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne is buried somewhere in the cemetery.

And among the crowded headstones, some of which are overturned, a historical marker signals the general area of Tee-Tot’s resting place.

But it’s off the tourist trail, a little-known site for the Williams fans who flock to Oakwood Cemetery.

Tee-Tot was a black street performer who taught the young Williams to play the guitar in the 1930s.

An unmarked grave in a run-down cemetery may have suited Tee-Tot just fine, though.

Leona Simmons, the hostess at the Hank Williams Museum in Georgiana, said Tee-Tot was a very private person.

“He didn’t like to have his picture taken,” Simmons told the Press-Register in a story Monday. “He was a performer, but he was also very private.”

Tee-Tot used to go to the Williams home, where he would sit outside with Williams to give him lessons, she said. They usually sat under the high front porch out of sight.

“Whites didn’t follow blacks around then,” Simmons said.

“It just wasn’t done. That’s why they ended up under the house. He was hiding out.”

Williams’ mother gave Tee-Tot food as payment, according to the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Though his nickname was derived from “teetotaler,” he was known to carry a flask of alcohol mixed with tea. He played mostly in Georgiana and nearby Greenville.

“They say that old guy was good,” Simmons said. “When he played parties, he had a three-man band. On the street it was just him. He told Hank to always keep the crowd’s attention. When they start to slip, you’re in trouble.”

In 1937, Tee-Tot moved to Montgomery at Williams’ suggestion. Two years later, he fell ill and died in a charity hospital at age 55.

Unaware of his mentor’s death, Williams searched for Tee-Tot when playing a concert in Greenville 10 years later, Simmons said.

“It was time to pay him back,” she said.

But Williams didn’t find him. State historians said that until the general area of the grave was located in 1999 — the exact burial site is still unknown — no one else could either.

The Press-Register said a University of Alabama student, Alice Harp, tracked down the site.

Money was donated several years ago to erect a marker.


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Biography of Hank Williams by Chet Flippo and Screenplay Adaption of the book by Paul Schrader

The following screenplay was adapted from the book shown above. Many of the lines are word for word from the book.
http://www.weeklyscript.com/Eight%20Scenes%20From%20The%20Life%20Of%20Hank%20Williams%20%28Unproduced%29.txt

Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues

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Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Hank Williams- I'll Fly Away

Hank Williams- I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive

Click on the video to go to YouTube and get rid of the ads.

Oak Hill West Virginia The Town Where Hank Williams Was Discovered Dead on January 1, 1953

This video has no sound but it shows the town of Oak Hill, West Virginia where Hank Williams' dead body was discovered in his Cadillac on Jan. 1, 1953. Click on the video to go to Youtube and get the names of the locations. Some people like to say he died there but he was most likely already dead in the back seat of the car when the driver stopped there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Williams
Click on the above to read the wikipedia article on Hank Williams.

Men With Broken Hearts - Hank Williams, Sr.

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Kitty Wells Lonely Street

When I was in college we had some records around the fraternity house. This being in 1959 in Mississippi there were some blues records and there were some hard core old time honky tonk records. It was there I found LONELY STREET by Kitty Wells on Decca and also Luke the Drifter by Hank Williams on a nice MGM 10 inch LP. (see my Luke the Drifter post below.)
The cover of LONELY STREET shown above on the EP on Decca was the original cover art on the Decca LP as well.
Also in 1959 I first heard the Sonny Boy Williamson LP shown in the post above this one. Hank Williams as Luke The Drifter, Kitty Wells singing Lonely Street and Sonny Boy Williamson Don't Start Me Talkin'. Somebody around that frat house had some good taste in music.

Luke The Drifter Hank Williams

These songs by Hank Williams as Luke The Drifter are among my all time favorites.