Classical Country Music Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hank Williams

Hank Williams. On New Year's Eve Hank was supposed to fly out of Knoxville, Tennessee, but because of severe weather conditions he had to travel by car to Canton, Ohio where he was scheduled to play the following night. The chauffeur pulled up at an all night service station at Oak Hill, West Virginia, and after filling up the car went to check on Hank, who was "asleep" in the backseat. The time was 3:00 am and the driver found Hank cold and not responding. A doctor in a West Virginian Hospital pronounced him dead at 7:00 am.

Before leaving Knoxville, Hank was injected with morphine and B12 and left his hotel carrying a full bottle of whiskey. There are some people who believe he was dead before he left Knoxville.

Known as the King of Country, Hank was only 30 years old. The last single released before he died was "I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive."

Answer: Dottie West

Dottie West. On 30th August 1991 Dottie was due to play at the Grand Old Opry but she could not get her car started. She asked her neighbour, who was 81 years old, if he could give her a lift to the venue. He entered the car park at the Grand Old Opry at high speed and the car vaulted over the car park ramp. Dottie suffered a ruptured liver and other severe internal injuries and after receiving over 32 pints of blood Dottie passed away on the 4th September. During this time she was fully aware of what was happening although she could not speak. She survived an abusive childhood, periods of being an alcoholic, and being declared bankrupt after a shady Manager lost all of her money through bad investments.

However she could not survive the car crash and was 59 when she died.

Answer: Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings. In Waylon's early days he played in Buddy Holly's backing band. J.P. Richardson, known as The Big Bopper, was supposed to have travelled in his tour bus while Waylon travelled on the plane. However, because Richardson was suffering from flu, Waylon offered to exchange his seat on the airplane for Richardson's seat on the bus.

In the dressing room where they were playing a show, Buddy Holly said to Waylon "I hope the bus ices over" to which Waylon replied "I hope your plane crashes". These words were to haunt Waylon for the rest of his life, for on February 3rd 1959 the plane crashed just outside of Mason City, Iowa killing all crew and passengers. This date has been called "The Day the Music Died".

Answer: David Alan Coe

David Alan Coe. David spent many periods in reform schools, correction centres and prisons from when he was nine years old. During the last prison sentence he served, it was alleged that he killed an inmate whilst in the showers, when the inmate attempted to have oral sex with him, and subsequently served time on death row.

Although this story was not denied at the time, David Alan Coe later refuted the allegations and a general opinion was formed that this was part of a publicity stunt. He was paroled in 1967. Travelling around Nashville on a motorbike or in a hearse he called himself "The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy" and became famous for his songs about prison life.

Answer: Tammy Wynette

Tammy Wynette. Although Tammy was married five times most people remember her marriage to George Jones. However during her marriage to George Ritchie she was mysteriously abducted by a masked man whilst shopping in Nashville. She was taken 80 miles away and beaten before being released. No one could understand the reason for the abduction and nobody was caught.
In later years her daughter stated that the abduction was fixed so the the black eyes she was supposed to have received because of the abduction, in actual fact covered the bruising she received after her husband had beaten her.
Although she had 26 major operations during her later years she still performed whenever she could she and passed away peacefully, at her home, aged 55.

Answer: Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson. Willie is a very strong advocate of World Conservation and is the leading proponent of biodiesel in America. Biodiesel is a mixture of fuel and vegetable oil. At least 12 truckstops sell "BioWillie" (Willie's market brand), the majority of these being situated in Texas.

Answer: Johnny Paycheck

Johnny Paycheck. In 1985 Johnny got involved in a bar room brawl during which he shot and wounded his opponent. Johnny pleaded self defence and spent four years appealing the sentence. However in 1989 his luck ran out and he spent two years at the Chillicothe Correctional Institute.
Prior to that he was sued for slander after a fight on an airliner, arrested for alleged rape, but the charges were reduced and fined, and he was also made bankrupt by the IRS.

In 1988 he converted to Christianity just prior to going to prison, and on his release rigidly stuck to his bail conditions, stopped drinking and toured the countryside giving anti-drug lectures to children. He never reached the top again and after being ill for quite a few years passed away in 2003 at the age of 64.

Answer: Hank Williams Junior

Hank Williams Junior. Whilst climbing a mountain in Montana in 1975 Hank fell 440 feet and badly injured his face and head. His skull was split, his face crushed and one eye was hanging out of the socket.
After nine major operations spread over two years, Hank finally recovered although he began to wear sunglasses, a full beard and cowboy hat in order to cover the extensive scars that he now had.
Some people wondered whether he had been drinking at the time of the accident although Hank strongly denied that he had, and said that the episode was just an unfortunate accident

Answer: Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn. Known as the Coal Miner's Daughter, she was 13 when she met her husband Mooney Lynn and got married when she turned fourteen.
When she followed Mooney to Washington where he was looking for work she brought up her first children in a three roomed house with no running water and an outside toilet.
Although they had many ups and downs Mooney and Loretta stayed together until his death, for 48 years. Loretta was devastated when Mooney passed away.

Answer: Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis. Known as "The Killer" Jerry was touring in Britain when the English Press discovered that he had recently married his 13 year old cousin. He was 23 at the time.
Half way through his third concert he received a great deal of heckling from the audience, and after one particular comment he shouted " Will someone put the lid on that garbage can" and went off stage vowing never to return to England. The news of his marriage followed him to America and he disappeared from the music scene for many years.

Answer: Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard. Merle was serving a 15 year sentence for armed robbery when he saw Johnny Cash perform live at San Quentin. After the show he vowed to go straight and on release started a highly successful career as a song writer and singer. Years after, when he met Johnny Cash, Merle said that he had been at San Quentin when Johnny was there. Johnny said "I don't remember you in the line up" to which Merle replied "I wasn't, I was in the audience".

Answer: Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson. Kris won a Rhodes Scholarship to study English Literature at Oxford University before becoming an US Army Captain. During this period he became a qualified helicopter pilot but left the army just as he was about to become an instructor at West Point. He continued piloting helicopters until he was found passed out at the controls of his machine. He then started to clean studios in Nashville until Johnny Cash recorded Kris' song "Sunday Morning Coming Down".
This was a turning point for Kris as the song was voted Song of the Year by the CMA. From then on he became a top song writer with hits like "Help Me Make it Through the Night", "For the Good Times" and "Me and Bobby Mcgee". He was once married to Rita Coolidge but this marriage failed when Kris began drinking one and a half bottles of Jack Daniels a day.
He finally saw the light and gave up drinking in 1976.

Answer: John Denver

John Denver. On October 12th 1997 the single engine plane that John was piloting crashed head long into Monterey Bay, California. The plane, a single engined Long EZ, was an experimental plane but John had 20 years experience as a pilot, and should have had no problems in flying this craft. The crash has never been explained away although numerous theories abound. One theory is that when running low on fuel in one tank he attempted to switch tanks and accidentally knocked the side stick control. The fuel switch was in the back seat of the plane and John was flying in the front seat.
Just prior to this flight the FAA decreed that he did not meet the necessary standards for a pilot because of his heavy drinking.
The only thing certain is that the real reason for the crash will never be known.

Answer: George Jones

George Jones. Apart from his turbulent marriage to Tammy Wynette, George became infamous for his drinking binges and cocaine taking. His drinking became so bad that he quite often canceled, or failed to turn up for concerts, so that he became known as "No Show". Rather than becoming upset about this new nickname (his original nickname was "The Possum"), he seemed to take pride in his new name and recorded a song entitled "No Show Jones".

In 1979 he failed to appear at well over 50 concerts. After numerous run ins with the law, and surviving a very serious car crash which almost killed him, George finally entered into a rehab clinic in Alabama and gradually got his life back together again.

Answer: Jim Reeves

No country music quiz would be complete without mentioning Jim Reeves, affectionately known as "Gentleman Jim". Jim was piloting a single engine plane when he encountered a violent thunderstorm near Nashville. The plane could not cope and vanished from the radar screens around 5:00pm. His business partner and manager were also killed in the crash.
A major cause of the crash was believed to be that Jim suffered from pilot's vertigo and had accidentally turned the plane upside down. On trying to rise above the storm, the movement had the adverse effect and the plane nose dived into the ground.
Jim had numerous records that had not been released and over a period of time after his death, these records were drip fed onto the market making Jim one of the biggest "after death" earners in history.