31 Days of Halloween Hits: "Midnight in Montgomery" by Alan Jackson

by Julian Spivey
As we welcome October with its cool breezes, and - now socially distanced - festivities, we often think of scary movies, pumpkin patches and killers in masks. Rarely, if ever, do you hear anyone say what they’re looking forward to most about the season, is the music. Granted, Halloween music has nowhere near the mega-market that Christmas music has, but it seems that quality trumps quantity in this particular situation. With songs like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” Halloween season is a heavy hitter when it comes to music! 
 
That’s why we’re celebrating 31 Days of Halloween Hits here at The Word for the entire month of October. Every day we’re going to bring you a great song that fits right in on your Halloween playlist. Some are songs specifically written for the holiday, but others are great selections you can listen to year-around but have a great theme for the spookiest of all holidays. Some of these songs you’ve certainly heard and some are lesser known that we hope to familiarize you with.

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Yesterday (Oct. 17) was Country Music Hall of Famer Alan Jackson’s 62nd birthday, which got me to thinking about some of his greatest songs and one of those great Alan Jackson songs fits perfectly into our 31 Days of Halloween Hits series as it’s a ghost story – it’s also one of country music’s all-time greatest tribute songs to Hank Williams, likely the most influential musician in country music history.
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That song is “Midnight in Montgomery,” from Jackson’s 1991 album Don’t Rock the Jukebox, which was a No. 3 hit for Jackson when released as a single in 1992.

The song, co-written by Jackson and Don Sampson, tells of a country singer (perhaps patterned on Jackson himself) heading to Mobile, Ala. to perform a New Year’s Eve show and stopping off in Montgomery, Ala. to visit Hank Williams’ grave and pay his respects. The ghost of Williams pops up to thank the musician for paying tribute before disappearing into the cool night air. There are numerous tributes to Williams within the song from the obvious references to his classic “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” to the more subtle like the setting being on the way to perform a New Year’s Eve show and Williams having died traveling to a New Year’s show in 1953.  

“Midnight in Montgomery” certainly isn’t a scary song to add to your Halloween playlist, but the ambience it creates should send chills down the spine of any country music fan.

“Midnight in Montgomery” is not the first Hank Williams ghost song (David Allen Coe’s “The Ride” was a top five hit in 1983) and it likely won’t be the last either, but it is the best.   

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