According to Audrey Williams, Hank wrote the song, “I Saw The Light” while on his way home from a tour.

Audrey commented, “Hank and his band had been on tour for several days and the car they were traveling in kept breaking down all the time they were gone.  They were on their way back to Montgomery, Alabama and the car was about to quit again.  They were beginning to wonder if the car was going to make it back home.  All at once, Hank spotted the beacon light at the Montgomery airport and he hollered, “We’re okay now boys, we’re gonna make it -- I saw the light.”

“After he got home he kept repeating those words over and over and finally sat down and began writing the song.  He finished it the next day.”

“I Saw The Light” never became a Hank Williams hit record, but it did become one of the country’s best loved gospel songs.  Roy Acuff and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band scored a #56 hit on the tune in 1971.

Doug Davis
Country Music Classics