Hank Williams died on New Year’s Eve in 1952 on the way to a performance, but as with most great artists, death is never the end. East Kootenay residents will be treated to a moving tribute to the late king of country music at the Key City Theatre on Wednesday, October 6.

Hank walks on stage, the band kicks into "Settin’ the Woods on Fire" and the show is off! For two hours the audience is treated to all of Hank Williams’ hits and an intimate, revealing evening with one of the legends of country music.

Joe Matheson, who has been dubbed “the quintessential voice of Hank Williams”, is an accomplished professional actor and singer who previously starred as Hank Williams in “The Show He Never Gave.”

This fully scripted musical theatre piece is Joe's personal tribute to the King of Country Music. It's not a true story, but the stories are true. And if it ain’t exactly factual well, as Hank would say, "What Momma don’t know won't hurt 'er!"

1952: it seemed like the beginning of the end for Hank Williams. His marriage had ended, his contract with the Grand Ole Opry had been terminated, and his health – never good – was in serious decline. His drinking got worse, the stream of concerts he was used to had dried up, and even his old friend and mentor Fred Rose said he couldn’t put up with Hank’s shenanigans any longer.

Then, suddenly, in September of ’52, things changed: he’d be going back on the radio with the Louisiana Hayride, he’d be touring again, he was getting married in October, and he was going back into the studio to make a new record. Who was working on it with him? Fred Rose, who else?

Hank was riding high again. History, of course, proved Hank to be a little too optimistic for his own good. He died early on the morning of January 1, 1953 – on his way to a concert. But what caused the turn around? Where did Hank get this amazing second wind only months before his death?

We may never know. But Hank did spend a great deal of time at a friend’s cottage that summer, near a diner called the Kowaliga Café. “Hank Williams Live” gives audiences a glimpse at what might have been: a night with Hank, just as the world seemed to be getting rosier.

It may be bittersweet, imagining what Hank must have been like, knowing he would be dead a few months later. But it was his last hurrah, one final triumph, and one of his greatest recording sessions ever.

After headlining the 2002 Grandstand Show at the Calgary Stampede, playing to between 17,000 and 20,000 people a night, Joe wrote his own Hank Williams show. Hank Williams ‘Live’ 1952 has played throughout Manitoba, southern BC and Saskatchewan, as well as selling out the Festival Theatre in Edmonton.

Hank Williams “Live” 1952 plays at the Key City Theatre in Cranbrook on Wednesday, October 6 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the KCT Box Office or by calling 250-426-7006.