Fans view the 1952 Cadillac on display at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Ala. The honky tonk hero died on Jan. 1, 1953, at the age of 29 while asleep in the back of the car.

Cecil Jackson was 8 years old when Hank Williams bought him a Coke at a small gas station across the highway from where he lived.

He never forgot the encounter. In fact, he became a lifelong fan, and seven years ago, finally realized his dream of opening a museum about the country music icon.

Fans continue to pay homage to Hank Williams more than half a century after his death. In Alabama, special events take place every year on the anniversary of his birth and death, and his childhood home, gravesite, and the museum receive a steady stream of visitors from around the world.

Now there's a new Hank Williams Trail -- a free 20-page brochure from Alabama Tourism listing several important sites in half a dozen towns and cities.

"Hank Williams recorded 225 songs in a five-year period, and wrote over half of those," says Beth Birtley, manager of the Hank Williams Museum and the daughter of Cecil Jackson. "No other artist has ever matched what he did in that length of time."

In all, 28 of Hank's songs made the Top 10 of the Billboard Best Sellers Chart, including hits such as Lovesick Blues, Jambalaya, Your Cheatin' Heart, Honky Tonk Blues and Hey, Good Lookin'.

PERSONAL ARTIFACTS

The museum has a large collection of his records, as well as dozens of personal artifacts, including 14 of Hank's suits, made by Nudie's of North Hollywood, the microphone and stand Hank used in his last performance, and the 1952 baby blue Cadillac in which he made his final journey.

Hank was on his way to a performance in Ohio on Jan. 1, 1953, when he died of heart failure in the back seat of his car. He was just 29 years old.

Williams' gravestone has become a pilgrimage site for thousands of fans.

For years, the singer had suffered from a back problem and some believe alcohol and morphine, which he took to ease the pain, may have led to his early death.

He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery, about a kilometre from the museum, and his gravesite has become a pilgrimage site. It features two white marble monuments, one to Hank and one to his wife, Audrey, and a marble replica of Williams' cowboy hat.

Margaret Gaston is one fan who feels lucky to have seen Hank while he was still alive. In the early 1950s, she and four friends drove to Nashville for a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

"I don't remember what Hank sang but I remember, all the other people that came up ahead of him, the people in the audience just clapped," recalls Gaston. "When Hank came on, I thought they were going to tear the Ryman (Auditorium) down. They went berserk, they clapped and stomped and whistled, it was amazing. I've never forgotten that."

Today, Gaston is a guide at the Hank Williams Boyhood Home and Museum at 127 Rose St. in Georgiana, Ala.

Hank, his mother and sister moved there after losing their home to fire. With his father in a veterans hospital, young Hank sold peanuts and shined shoes to help support the family.

It was on Rose St. that he learned to play the guitar from local musicians, including a black street singer named Rufus "Tee-tot" Payne.

At the age of 14, Williams won his first talent show and received $15 for his tune WPA Blues. After that, he formed a band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had his own radio show on WSFA.

On display at 127 Rose St. are a few products from the show's radio sponsors, along with the church bench where Hank stood to sing as a child, a Hank and Hezzy's original Drifting Cowboys hat, Hank and Audrey's dishes, and the original poster advertising the Canton, Ohio, show he never did because of his untimely death.

REMEMBERING HANK

Aside from the museum and the gravesite, other sites in Montgomery include the Jeff Davis Hotel, where Hank's radio career began on WSFA-AM; the Empire Theater, where he won his first talent contest; the Elite Cafe, where he last performed in public; and the Municipal Auditorium on Perry St., where his funeral was held a week later.

Elsewhere, fans can visit the Mount Olive West Baptist Church, where the young Hank often sang; the service station garage in Andalusia where he married Audrey Sheppard in 1944; a cabin at Kowaliga on Lake Martin where Hank vacationed; and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia.

For a free brochure, contact Alabama Tourism at 1-800-252-2262 or check hankwilliamstrail.com.