Fifty Years Since the Fall That Changed Country Music August 8, 1975. Fifty years ago today, Hank Williams Jr. fell nearly 500 feet off Ajax Mountain in Montana. Seventeen surgeries. Almost 2 years of recovery. A second chance at life. That fall did not just change his face. It changed his music. He stepped out of his father’s shadow, blended country with Southern rock, and became the outlaw legend we know today. Here is to fifty years of survival, fire, and Family Tradition. You were not a shad