The couple was wed by a justice of the peace at a Texaco Station in Andalusia in 1944, just days after Audrey’s divorce from her first husband was finalized. She quickly stepped into her mother-in-law’s role as her new husband’s manager and was instrumental in boosting his career.
Though Hank failed his Grand Ole Opry audition in Nashville, Audrey convinced record exec, Fred Rose of Acuff-Rose, to give him a shot and Rose loved what he heard. Hank was granted a six-song contract which gained him enough notoriety to land a record deal with MGM Records.
As Hank’s career became more successful, Audrey also longed to perform. She regularly performed with the Drifting Cowboys. She was featured on numerous recordings with her husband, including “Lost on the River,” “I Heard My Mother Praying for Me,” “Dear Brother,” “Jesus Remembered Me,” “The Pale Horse and His Rider,” “Jesus Died for Me,” “Help Me Understand,” “Something Got a Hold of Me,” “I Want to Live and Love”, and “Where the Soul of Man Never Dies.”
But Hank’s alcohol abuse was causing a serious strain on their relationship. He was also suffering from extreme back pain due to spina bifida, which resulted in drug abuse as well. The couple welcomed only one child together, Randall Hank Williams, now known professionally as Hank Williams Jr., in 1949. Hank Williams also raised Audrey’s daughter Lycrecia as his own.
“Of the two of us, I always considered myself the luckiest one because I got to do things with Daddy,” Lycrecia Williams Hoover told The New York Times in 2008. “He would take me bowling a lot. He would go horseback riding and fishing with me. I just feel like Hank Jr. missed out on so much.”
