In 1975, Hank Williams Jr.’s life was drastically altered after what he later described as a harrowing fall off a Montana mountain that nearly claimed his life.
Hank Williams Jr. has often spoken about the hardship he has endured. As the only son of the legendary country singer Hank Williams, he has mentioned how he was destined for fame. After Hank Sr.’s tragic death when Jr. was just four years old, the younger Williams grew up surrounded by country music icons like Johnny and June Carter Cash, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Earl Scruggs. These legends would later rally around Hank Jr. when he was recovering from a near-fatal accident.
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In recounting his near-death experience, Hank Jr. has detailed how, on August 8, 1975, only weeks after completing his breakthrough album Hank Williams Jr. & Friends, he was hiking Ajax Peak in western Montana with local rancher Dick Willey and Willey’s 11-year-old son, Walt. As he has explained, while navigating the icy terrain, he lost his footing when a snowfield gave way beneath him. At 26 years old, Williams fell over 500 feet, hitting the jagged mountainside as he plummeted.
According to the Willeys’ account, they rushed down the mountain to find Williams lying motionless and bleeding. Despite the severity of his injuries, they were surprised to find him alive and conscious. They later described how, when they reached him, they saw that his head was fractured, exposing part of his brain, his nose was nearly torn from his face, and one of his eyes was dislodged from its socket.
Dick reportedly instructed his son to stay with Williams and keep him talking while he went for help. Walt later shared that he kept Hank awake by talking to him nonstop for nearly four hours.
Six hours later, with the assistance of six men and a helicopter, Hank Jr. was transported to a hospital in Missoula, Montana, where he underwent more than seven hours of surgery. The doctors reportedly didn’t expect him to survive.
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When Hank Williams Jr. regained consciousness, he has recounted that his godmother, June Carter Cash, and Johnny Cash were at his bedside. He has told Rolling Stone that when he woke up in the hospital bed, the only two people he saw were Johnny and June. According to Hank, June put a cross on him and assured him that everything would be OK.
Nine days later, Hank has said that he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time. He recalled that his head had swollen to the size of a watermelon and that his face and jaws were wired and sewn together. In his words, he knew it was bad, but he didn’t realize just how bad it was.
Hank Jr. remained in the hospital until August 25. Just two-and-a-half weeks after the accident, he was released, but the road to recovery had only just begun.
In a 1989 interview, Hank Jr. admitted that he had dreams about the accident. He recalled that he should have died and quoted a doctor who told him that he had worked on plenty of boys in Vietnam, and compared to them, Hank looked much worse.
Nine more surgeries followed over the next two years. Hank has mentioned that his face and skull were reconstructed with skin grafts, metal plates, and screws. Although he never expected to speak again, two years after the fall, Hank released two albums, One Night Stand and The New South.
He also debuted a new look. Once clean-shaven, he grew a beard and wore dark sunglasses to conceal the scars left by the accident. He has since acknowledged that this now-signature look perfectly complemented his unique brand of rebel country music.
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In 2022, during an interview with radio personality Bobby Bones, Hank Williams Jr. was asked about his memories of the terrifying fall. He reportedly responded that he remembered “all of it,” every bit of it. He added that doctors credited his survival to the fact that he didn’t lose consciousness on the mountain.
According to Hank, he was strapped to the outside of a helicopter during the rescue, and he described the ride as “pretty rough.” He also recounted that when they reached the hospital, they cut everything off him, except for his cross necklace, which he insisted they leave on. He recalled that he had a gun in a shoulder holster when he fell, and they had to cut the holster off. He said they operated on him all night and that he woke up a day and a half later.
When Bobby Bones asked when he was able to sing again, Hank reportedly said that it was a long time after that, adding that it felt like starting all over.
In an undated interview with Lorraine Crook, Hank reflected on how the accident changed his outlook on life. He reportedly shared that he didn’t know if he would be able to see again, talk, or even walk out on stage. Hank mentioned that the accident made him appreciate life more and caused him to place less importance on trivial things.
Hank Williams Jr. has frequently revisited the story of the accident that nearly took his life, offering a glimpse into how it profoundly impacted him both personally and professionally.
