Hank Williams was born in September 1923 in a small Alabama farming community about 70 miles south of Montgomery His father was a railroad engineer who was also a victim of shell shock after a year of fighting in France in 1918 during World War I and spent many years in veterans hospitals Hank's mother, Lillian Skipper Williams, played the organ in their local church and taught him gospel songs when he was six When Hank turned 10 he taught himself to play the guitar, mostly by watching other guitarists In his teens Hank learned to play and sing country songs that he heard on the family radio, and picked up some blues chords from a black friend who was a street musician named Tee-Tot (Rufe Payne) At the age of 14 Hank put together his own band, playing at hoedowns and other get-together, where he won a local talent contest competition with his composition "WPA Blues" At 17, Hank put together a group called 'Hank Williams' Original Drifting Cowboys' and they successfully auditioned for the manager of WSFS Radio in Montgomery, where they played regularly on the air Hank met his first wife Audrey Williams during a traveling medicine show and they were married in December 1944 at an Alabama gas station Audrey was a strong-willed woman who became Hank's booking agent, road manager and promoter It was she who encouraged the stage-frightened Hank to perform on stage and helped book gigs outside of Alabama