June 23 (Bloomberg) -- More than 50 years after his death, Hank Williams's short life and enduring music are the subjects of a darkly entertaining documentary airing tomorrow on PBS. Born Sept. 17, 1923, in Mount Olive, Alabama, Williams wasted no time settling into a stormy existence that inspired songs such as ``Cold, Cold Heart'' and ``I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.''

Director Morgan Neville shot this latest installment of PBS's ``Masters'' series in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana and Florida, a land of flat fields, tall trees, and plenty of shacks. We meet several 80-something members of Williams's band -- the Drifting Cowboys -- along with his son, grandson and widow. Interspersed are clips of Williams, his largely absent father, and other family members and friends now dead.

She's Mine

Billie Jean Horton, interviewed here for the first time on camera, was Williams's second wife. She could reasonably be considered an acquisition. Williams met her late in his life as she was being squired around by country singer Faron Young. Williams took Young aside, pulled a pistol, and informed him that he was going to have to give up Billie Jean. Young apparently didn't put up much of an argument; Williams's reputation had preceded him.

Much of that reputation grew from his first marriage. Williams met Audrey Mae Guy in 1943 at a medicine show. Neville illustrates the event with a man holding a rattlesnake in one hand and a bottle of elixir in the other. Snake and bottle would be appropriate centerpieces on the family coat of arms. Married the next year at a filling station in Andalusia, Alabama, the couple fought constantly as Williams drank himself into a regular stupor.

From these clashes came his best music, ``Cold, Cold Heart'' the most notable example. In 1950, Audrey had a home abortion that was to have been kept secret. Infection set in, however, and when Williams came in from touring he headed to the hospital, where a terrible row ensued.

Cadaverous Crooner

He went home and wrote the song, which went places, including into the repertoire of Tony Bennett, who is seen crooning a few bars. Other stars, including Bing Crosby and Perry Como, requested songs. Eventually, his material would be covered by Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and more recently, Norah Jones, all of whom make brief appearances in the TV program.

Director Neville also makes good use of film archives, including a clip of Williams singing ``Cold, Cold Heart.'' He is tall, thin and big-eared with a tilted white cowboy hat and a suit adorned with sparkles and huge musical notes. The comical clothing is in contrast to Williams's cadaverous aura, which brings to mind a country-music expression: He looked like death eating a cracker.

A bad marriage and alcohol weren't his only tormentors. Lillie Williams was mother, manager and occasional sparring partner. It seems she may also have run a call-girl service out of her Montgomery, Alabama, rooming house. Strong-willed like her son, she once ended a disagreement by knocking Hank through a plate-glass window.

Hillbilly Boy

Lillie was also central to his early success. After realizing there might be money in ``hillbilly music,'' she had parked Hank, not yet a teenager, on the sidewalk in front of the Jefferson Davis Hotel, where station WSFA had its offices. This won him an on-air gig as ``The Singing Kid'' and began his professional apprenticeship.

By 21, he and his Drifting Cowboys were playing 300 dates a year, many ending when Williams cracked his guitar over a rambunctious fan's head. ``He bought a new guitar about every week,'' one band mate recalls.

Williams was also committed to a sanitarium at least once for his drinking, which he took up at age 10. This demon was not to be conquered and was eventually augmented by morphine and pain pills, the latter taken to ease a severe back problem that biographer and on-air source Colin Escott says was probably spina bifida occulta.

His muse was better company. Williams wrote 66 songs under his own name (and an unknown number under the alias ``Luke the Drifter''), including ``Your Cheatin' Heart,'' ``Jambalaya,'' ``Hey Good Lookin','' ``Move It on Over,'' and ``I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)''.

Final Descent

Yet with fame came disillusionment. He was fired from the Grand Ole Opry in August 1952 for failing to show up for various events and was reduced to playing small halls and honky-tonks. The final descent began New Year's Eve, 1952. Williams was at home, catastrophically deep in his cups, and as Audrey walked toward the front door he fired four shots through a nearby window. Country singer Ray Price, also interviewed here, says Williams confided to him at the time he would not live a year without her.

He was right. On Dec. 31, 1953, Williams died while being driven to performances in West Virginia and Ohio. He was 29. Twenty thousand people attended his Jan. 6 funeral in Montgomery.

Neville ends the show with an arresting clip: Williams singing his best known gospel song, ``I Saw The Light.'' This is meant to be a jubilant number, but Williams seems quite out of place -- a lost soul with little prospect of finding his way back home. His is a haunting story, well told here. The hour passes too quickly.

Last Updated: June 23, 2004 00:08 EDT