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.
Guitar Money
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Trying to make the payments on a pick up truck and double wide
Mamma always said son,
Use a little common sense
So I took her at a whirl and
Decided I could suck them in
I had an ol' les paul pulled out from under the bed
And the number of a drummer knew somebody in the grateful dead
Then he said I'm glad you called
We need a guitar player and a man that can sing it all
I started making me some guitar money
Guitar money
I sure do like it when the people start screaming turn it up
Turn it up
Guitar money
Guitar money
Oh it aint no wonder old elvis quit driving that truck
We met a man in atlanta
He said he would sign us up today
He was a big movie maker, shaker, maker record radio might play
Yeah maybe I will and maybe I wont
Make it to the hall of fame
But either way it goes you'll never hear me complain
Yeaah and I'm making guitar money
Ggguitar money
I sure do like it when the girls start screaming
Crank it up
Crank it up
Guitar money
Guitar money
Hey it aint no wonder old elvis quit driving that truck
Making guitar money
Tee shirt money
I sure do like it when the girls start screaming
Turn it turn it turn it turn it turn it way up
Hey guitar money
How about this hit lick honey
No it aint no wonder old elvis quit driving that truck
Heres some for you
Cousin jean too
And loretta, uncle hal
And you and you and you and you
Im making all kind of guitar money
Times are good
Guitar money
Oh a whole lotta guitar money
In Hank Williams Jr.’s song Guitar Money, he tells the story of how he went from working a 9 to 5 job at Kentucky Fried Chicken, struggling to make payments on his truck and trailer, to becoming a guitar player for the Grateful Dead and making it big in the music industry. The lyrics suggest that he “sucked them in” by using common sense and picking up an old Gibson Les Paul guitar that he had hidden under his bed.
He goes on to describe the thrill of performing and how he loves it when the crowds scream for him to turn it up. He attributes his success to making “guitar money” and how this newfound success helped him to make money selling t-shirts too. He recognizes that his success may not take him to the Hall of Fame, but he will never complain either way as he is making all kinds of guitar money.
Overall, the lyrics suggest that taking a chance and following one’s passion can lead to success, even if it means abandoning a traditional job and striking out on one’s own to follow a dream.
Line by Line Meaning
I had a nine to five day job at kentucky fried
I used to work at kentucky fried chicken doing a 9-5 job
Trying to make the payments on a pick up truck and double wide
I was trying to earn enough for my pickup truck and mobile home, which I had to make payments on
Mamma always said son, Use a little common sense
My mom always told me to act sensibly
So I took her at a whirl and Decided I could suck them in
I followed my mom's advice and decided to take a chance to succeed in life
I had an ol' les paul pulled out from under the bed
I found an old Les Paul guitar under my bed
And the number of a drummer knew somebody in the grateful dead
I had the phone number of a drummer who knew somebody from the band 'Grateful Dead'
And I got him on the line and he talked awhile
I managed to call him and we talked for a while
Then he said I'm glad you called We need a guitar player and a man that can sing it all
He said that they needed a guitar player and someone who can sing, and he was glad that I called
I started making me some guitar money Guitar money
I started to make money by playing the guitar
I sure do like it when the people start screaming turn it up Turn it up Guitar money Guitar money
I enjoy it when the audience screams and cheers for me to play louder and make more music, and I continue to make money from my guitar playing
Oh it aint no wonder old elvis quit driving that truck
It's no surprise that Elvis decided to quit driving a truck after he started making money from his music
We met a man in atlanta He said he would sign us up today He was a big movie maker, shaker, maker record radio might play
We met a man in Atlanta who was a big shot in the movie, music and radio industry, and he promised to sign us up for a recording contract
Yeah maybe I will and maybe I wont Make it to the hall of fame But either way it goes you'll never hear me complain Yeaah and I'm making guitar money
I don't know if I'll make it to the Hall of Fame, but I won't complain either way, because I am making money by playing the guitar
Guitar money I sure do like it when the girls start screaming Crank it up Crank it up Guitar money Guitar money
I continue to enjoy the money I make from playing the guitar, and I particularly enjoy it when female fans scream and cheer for me to play louder
Making guitar money Tee shirt money
Aside from making money from playing music, I also earn from selling t-shirts
Hey it aint no wonder old elvis quit driving that truck
Elvis must have realized he could make far more money from his music than he could ever earn from driving a truck
Times are good Guitar money Oh a whole lotta guitar money
Things are going well for me, and I am earning a lot of money from playing the guitar
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: TROY H. SEALS, EDDIE F. SETSER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind