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.
Before You Fell Out of Love With Me
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There were no hang-ups between me and you
Where are the words we use to speak
Before you fell out of love with me
Where's the good loving you use to give
Alone is a bad bad way to live
Arms so soft, lips so sweet
Where are the walks we use to take
Where are the plans we use to make
Where are the dreams we use to dream
Before you fell out of love with me
Where are the laughs use to have
Why did the good times turn into the bad
Where are the mornings we use to see
Before you fell out of love with me
Where are the nights we'd stay awake
Where is the love we use to make
Where's your body so eager and free
Before you fell out of love with me
I was just thinnking how life use to be
Before you fell out of love with me
In "Before You Fell Out of Love With Me," Hank Williams Jr. laments the end of a once-loving relationship. He expresses his confusion about how things changed and longs for the love, intimacy, and closeness they once shared. The first stanza begins with plaintive questions: "Where is the love that we once knew?...Where are the words we used to speak?" He reminisces about the good times when there were "no hang-ups" and no issues that came between them. However, now that things have ended, he can't help but remember how things used to be and wishes he could turn back the clock.
The song's sultry and slow tempo only further emphasizes the heartache that Williams Jr. feels. The slow, vocal-driven melody underscores the lyrics' mournful tone, and Williams Jr.'s voice conveys a sense of regret and sadness. He tries to recollect the memories of the love, affection, and passion that they had once shared, yearning to understand why that exceptional relationship fell apart. Underneath the surface of the song, there is a sense of frustration and longing for lost love.
Line by Line Meaning
Where is the love that we once knew
What happened to the love we used to share?
There were no hang-ups between me and you
We never had any issues or disagreements in our relationship.
Where are the words we use to speak
What happened to the meaningful conversations we had with each other?
Before you fell out of love with me
All of these things happened before you lost interest in our relationship.
Where's the good loving you use to give
What happened to the affection and attention you used to show me?
Alone is a bad bad way to live
Being alone is a terrible way to go through life.
Arms so soft, lips so sweet
You used to be so warm, tender, and loving towards me.
Where are the walks we use to take
Why don't we go on walks together anymore?
Where are the plans we use to make
What happened to the goals we used to have for our future?
Where are the dreams we use to dream
What happened to the aspirations and ambitions we shared?
Where are the laughs use to have
Why don't we share as many happy moments together anymore?
Why did the good times turn into the bad
How did our relationship take such a negative turn?
Where are the mornings we use to see
We used to wake up together and start our days with each other.
Before you fell out of love with me
All of these things happened before you lost interest in our relationship.
Where are the nights we'd stay awake
Why don't we stay up all night talking and cuddling anymore?
Where is the love we use to make
What happened to the intimate moments we used to share?
Where's your body so eager and free
You used to be so passionate and adventurous with me in bed.
Before you fell out of love with me
All of these things happened before you lost interest in our relationship.
I was just thinnking how life use to be
I was reflecting on how much better our lives were before our relationship took a turn for the worse.
Contributed by William S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Julina Lilly
Awesome song
Sandra Durham
I can't guess why she would fall out of love with him, no clues in these good lyrics, except something about her body being eager & free !!!Love Hank Williams Jnr. singing this one. Thanks Bill. 👍❤🎼🎶🎵🎹🎻
Marryann Lamb
Great song Bill . New to me . Keep the great songs coming .
Jenny Sauvola
Hank Williams jr ,absolutely fantastic song,love it,thanks darl.
Ruth Boykin
Love this song! Love every song he ever sang! Thanks D.!
Alex Crawford
It starts off as a decent song but ends up being a good song!
Lena Andersson
Evening Bill & thanks for Great song by H.W.Jr 🎤🎸 🌠
Peter Strachan Music
Cool song
Micky Bowser
OH OH JUST MUCH SWEET SWEET WICKER BILL YES🌹VELVET BLU BO'NEE 🌈 DREAMY DREAMS🌹
Mary Cagney
Great song she hasn't