HANK WILLIAMS ''LIVE'' 1952
Starring Joe Matheson as ‘Hank Williams’

Hank walks on stage, the band kicks into "Settin’ the Woods on Fire" and the show is off! For two hours the audience is treated to all of Hank Williams’ hits and an intimate, revealing evening with one of the legends of country music. Joe Matheson, who has been dubbed “the quintessential voice of Hank Williams”, is an accomplished professional actor and singer who previously starred as Hank Williams in The Show He Never Gave. This fully scripted musical theatre piece is Joe's personal tribute to the King of Country Music. It's not a true story, but the stories are true. And if it ain’t exactly factual well, as Hank would say, "What Momma don’t know won't hurt'er!"

1952: it seemed like the beginning of the end for Hank Williams. His marriage had ended, his contract with the Grand Ole Opry had been terminated, and his health – never good – was in serious decline. His drinking got worse, the stream of concerts he was used to dried up, and even his old friend and mentor Fred Rose said he couldn’t put up with Hank’s shenanigans any longer.

Then, suddenly, in September of ’52, things changed: he’d be going back on the radio with the Louisiana Hayride, he’d be touring again, he was getting married in October, and he was going back into the studio to make a new record. Who was working on it with him? Fred Rose, who else?

Hank was riding high again. History, of course, proved Hank to be a little too optimistic for his own good. He died early on the morning of January 1, 1953 – on his way to a concert. But what caused the turn around? Where did Hank get this amazing second wind only months before his death?

We may never know. But Hank did spend a great deal of time at a friend’s cottage that summer, near a diner called the Kowaliga Café. “Hank Williams Live” gives audiences a glimpse at what might have been: a night with Hank, just as the world seemed to be getting rosier.

It may be bittersweet, imagining what Hank must have been like, knowing he would be dead a few months later. But it was his last hurrah, one final triumph, and one of his greatest recording sessions ever.

Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Joe Matheson has appeared in national touring productions of JERSEY BOYS (Dancap), TOMMY and MISS SAIGON (Mirvish Productions), RAGTIME (LiveEnt), THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW and HAIR (European Tour). He has graced the stages of many regional Canadian theatres, he has performed Off-Broadway and in 2008 he heads to the Stratford Festival. Joe’s film and television credits include NOTHING TOO GOOD FOR A COWBOY (Alliance Atlantis) and READY OR NOT (Insight Productions).

After headlining the 2002 Grandstand Show at the Calgary Stampede, playing to between 17,000 and 20,000 people a night, Joe wrote his own Hank Williams show. Hank Williams ‘Live’ 1952 has played throughout Manitoba, southern BC and Saskatchewan, as well as selling out the Festival Theatre in Edmonton.