Audrey Sheppard walked away from the red clay fields of Pike County into the glaring spotlight of her husband, legendary country music star Hank Williams.

On February 15 and 16, the Brundidge Historical Society will present a story of Audrey Sheppard Williams that has not yet been told. 

Highly acclaimed story performer Dolores Hydock will take an inside look at Audrey Sheppard Williams and share a story that is different from any that has been told in print or on the screen.

Lawrence Bowden, BHS president, said Dolores Hydock is an incredible story performer and has done a tremendous amount of research into the life of Audrey Sheppard Williams.

“This performance is being done with permission from Audrey’s family, many of whom are here in Pike County,” Bowden said. “Dolores has visited with Audrey’s family members here and in Tennessee and the people at the Hank Williams’ Museum in Montgomery. She has also conducted phone interviews with family members.

“She has read printed materials and watched movies about the couple and those are the stories most of us know.  But after hearing Dolores Hydock’s performance, the audience will decide which side of Audrey’s story they want to take.”

Audrey Sheppard grew up in the Enon community of Pike County. She attended county schools and work in downtown Brundidge. She met Hank Williams at a medicine show in Banks and married him in Andalusia.

Audrey Sheppard Williams was out setting up shows and making record deals for her husband when most young women were baking biscuits at home. She is said to have pushed Hank Williams to stardom and, perhaps, she was also the cause of some of his songs.

Dolores Hydock takes an inside/out look at the life of Audrey Sheppard Williams. and leaves it to the audience to decide if are there really two side to every story.

Can both sides be true? Come hear her story and then decide.

Bowden said the BHS is looking forward to the “opening weekend” presentation at the We Piddle Around Theater.

“Audrey Sheppard, through her husband, Hank Williams, had an influence on country music, not just here in Alabama but all across the country and beyond,” Bowden said. “When the BHS was looking at a way to celebrate Alabama’s Bicentennial, we considered several events and people and settled on Audrey Sheppard because of the influence she had, if only indirectly, on country music.”

The city’s bicentennial celebration will also include a presentation by Alabama historian Wayne Flint with a concert of historical music by Lenny Trawick and his daughter, Amanda, in March and the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s “Making Alabama: A Bicentennial Traveling Exhibit” in June.

Tickets for the Audrey Sheppard Williams Story on February 15 and 16 are $25 and include the preshow, country supper and the presentation by story performer Dolores Hydock. For tickets, call 334-685-5524 or 334-344-0639 or 670-6302.