Williams began his career following in his famed father's footsteps, covering his father's songs and imitating his father's style. Williams' first television appearance was in a 1964 episode of ABC's The Jimmy Dean Show, in which at age fourteen he sang several songs associated with his father. Later that year, he was a guest star on Shindig!.
Williams' style evolved slowly as he struggled to find his own voice and place within country music. This was interrupted by a near-fatal fall off the side of Ajax Peak in Montana on August 8, 1975. After an extended recovery, he challenged the country music establishment with a blend of country, rock, and blues. As a multi-instrumentalist, Williams' repertoire of skills includes guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, dobro, piano, keyboards, saxophone, harmonica, fiddle, and drums.
From 1989 through October 2011, his song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight", refashioned as "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night", had been used to open broadcasts of Monday Night Football until it was pulled after Williams made controversial comments comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. The song returned to open the show in 2017.
On August 12, 2020, Williams was selected to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Williams' early career was guided, some say outright dominated, by his mother Audrey Williams, who many claim was the driving force that led his father to musical superstardom during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Audrey, in many ways, wished for young Hank to be nothing more than a "Hank Williams, Sr. impersonator", sometimes going as far as to have clothes designed for him that were identical to his father's stage clothes and vocal stylings very similar to those of his father.
Although Williams' recordings earned him numerous country hits throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, he became disillusioned with his role as a 'Hank Williams clone' and severed ties with his mother in order to pursue his own musical direction and tastes. After recording the soundtrack to Your Cheatin' Heart, a biography of his father, Williams, Jr. hit the charts with one of his own compositions, "Standing in the Shadows". The song signalled a move to rock and roll and other influences as he stepped from the shadow of his father.
Also during this time, Williams had his first two No. 1 songs: "All For the Love of Sunshine" (1970, featured on the soundtrack to Kelly's Heroes) and "Eleven Roses" (1972).
By the mid-1970s, Williams had finally found the musical direction that would, eventually, make him a superstar. Williams' unique blend of traditional country with southern rock and blues earned him a devoted following, although some mainstream country radio stations wouldn't touch his new songs in this blatantly untraditional sound.
While recording a series of hit songs, Williams began abusing drugs, including alcohol and eventually tried to commit suicide in 1974. Moving to Alabama, Williams began playing music with Southern rock musicians Toy Caldwell, Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels, and others.
His last major success was "There's a Tear in My Beer", a duet with his father created using electronic dubbing techniques. The song itself was written by his father, presumably, sometime between 1950 and 1953 and was recorded with Hank Williams playing just his guitar. The music video for the song combined existing television footage of Hank Williams performing and the dubbing techniques transferred the image of Hank Jr. onto the screen, so it appeared as if he were actually playing with his father. The video was an overwhelming success, both critically and commercially. It was named Video Of The Year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country music. Hank Williams, Jr. would go on to win a Grammy award in 1990 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.
Despite his slumping album sales, Hank Williams Jr. continued to be a popular concert draw during the early 1990s and continued to record, with several of his recordings during this time still managing to achieve gold status, selling 500,000 copies.
He is probably best known today as the performer of the theme song for Monday Night Football, based on "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". The opening theme became a classic, as much a part of the show as the football itself. In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Williams' opening themes for Monday Night Football would earn him four Emmy awards.
Williams opened for Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006, on ABC and was in the stands as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
On April 10, 2006, CMT honored Williams with the Johnny Cash Visionary Award, presenting it to him at the 2006 CMT Music Awards.
On November 11, 2008, Williams was honored as a BMI Icon at the 56th annual BMI Country Awards. The artists and songwriters named BMI Icons have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers".
In 2011, Williams was named one of "Seven Living Legends" of his native Shreveport, Louisiana, by Danny Fox (1954–2014) of KWKH radio. Others named were Bob Griffin of KSLA and KTBS-TV and James Burton. Two others cited, Claude King and Frank Page, both died in 2013.
In 2015, Hank Williams Jr. was Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.
Angels Are Hard to Find
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Asking you to send me down another angel.
I've been looking for along time for someone to get her off my mind,
But you know Lord, Angels are hard to find.
I want an angel with arms and not with wings.
Someone that I can call my darling.
If you can think of someone to fit that description,
But I know Lord, Angels are hard to find.
Its my fault I lost the first one you sent to me.
I didn't know 'til she was gone how much she mean't to me.
She loved me but I was blind.
I bet I do a whole lot better next time.
But I know Lord, Angels are hard to find.
I want an angel with arms and not with wings.
Someone that I can call darling.
If you can think of someone to fit my description,
Lord could you help ole Hank one more time,
But I know Lord, yeah angels are hard to find.
One like that right there Lord. Angels are hard to find
The lyrics of Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Angels Are Hard to Find" express the singer's plea for another chance at love after realizing he lost the first love of his life. He sings to the Lord, asking for an angel with arms instead of wings, someone that he can call his darling. The singer admits his mistake in letting go of the first angel that was sent to him, but he is hopeful that he will do better next time. However, he acknowledges that finding an angel like his first love is not an easy task, as "angels are hard to find."
The song is a classic country ballad that showcases the genre's themes of love, heartbreak, and redemption. Through his lyrics, Williams Jr. captures the universal feeling of searching for true love and the difficulty in finding someone who fulfills all of our hopes and dreams. It is a poignant reminder that sometimes it's easy to take love for granted and that we must be careful not to let it slip away.
Line by Line Meaning
Lord I'm singing you this message up to heaven
I am praying to you, God, from the depths of my heart
Asking you to send me down another angel.
I need a new love in my life and I'm beseeching God to help me find it
I've been looking for a long time for someone to get her off my mind,
I've been trying to move on from my past love by finding a new one
But you know Lord, Angels are hard to find.
I admit that finding someone who meets my standards is very difficult
I want an angel with arms and not with wings.
I want a real, physical love, not an unattainable fantasy
Someone that I can call my darling.
I want to find a person who I can cherish as a true companion
If you can think of someone to fit that description,
If there is anyone out there whom God thinks is right for me,
Lord could you help me one more time.
I implore God to guide me towards the right person once again
But I know Lord, Angels are hard to find.
I understand that finding someone who truly meets my needs is not an easy task
Its my fault I lost the first one you sent to me.
I blame myself for losing my former love who God had provided me
I didn't know 'til she was gone how much she meant to me.
I didn't appreciate her love for me until it was too late
She loved me but I was blind.
I failed to reciprocate her love and now regret it
I bet I do a whole lot better next time.
I promise to be more conscious of my actions and appreciate my future love more
But I know Lord, Angels are hard to find.
Despite my desire to improve, I still acknowledge how difficult finding true love can be
One like that right there Lord. Angels are hard to find.
I long for a love like the one I once had and that desire is hard to fulfill, as true love is rare
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: HANK JR. WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Braulio Heras
Extraño mucho a una chica muy especial que estuvo en mi vida por poco tiempo, y esta hermosa melodía me hace pensar en lo difícil que es olvidar y encontrar a alguien que llene ese vacío que dejo dentro de ti...
¿Alguien más habla español por aquí? Jaja
Vicente amaro Olivares cortes
A mi hace pensar que estoy en el espacio exterior y me hace sentir como un astronauta y además es muy linda la letra de esta canción.
(saludos desde chile)🇨🇱
Monica Dreaver
Love his voice and his words , love this song very much.
Steve Purvis
Seen him last night live I swear he is even better than he was 20 years ago
Magnificent Failure
Hank Jr was the first real concert I ever went to, 42 years ago. I'm glad to hear he's kept getting better, 'cause that concert in '78 was awesome.
Larry Bench
Hank is a great singer of a country ballad he has a deep rich voice for that type of music, this is a great song to listen to, he also has many other traditional country song's, one you should react to is "Heaven Can't Be Found" another great country ballad from him listen to it I think you will enjoy it!! Thank You.
Mustak Ahmed
After listening to this song in gravity, I couldn't resist myself searching this on YouTube, such a lovely song😍😭😭... Kowalski brought me here😍
A Lone Traveller
😁😁😁😁
Mustak Ahmed
@A Lone Traveller 😁✌✌
Samsung Promo
Hello mustak