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.
I've Got Rights
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I said, give me one of them Smith & Wesson Magnum .44s
Cause there's a man that the law let loose and justice was not done
This man he killed my wife and my only little son
I'll never forget the way he looked all through the trial
He had a big name lawyer and he had that smirky smile
Oh yeah, he got you off on a technicality
Cause I got rights
I got rights too
And this time there won't be no damn lawyers and systems to protect you
But I'm gonna read you - I'm gonna read you your rights
You got the right to know that you're gonna go to hell one of these black nights
And when the trial was over he had the nerve to say that's the way it goes
I said, well hoss you better get you some corks cause your gonna have to plug up a few holes
I guess he thought I was talkin' just to pass away time
But he kinda looks different now on his knees beggin' for his life
Hey, I got rights
I got some rights too
And this time there won't be no damn lawyers and systems to protect you
But I'm gonna read you - I'm gonna read you your rights
Cause I want you to know that your gonna go to hell one of these black nights
Yeah, and this time there aint no damn lawyers and systems to save you
In Hank Williams Jr.'s song "I've Got Rights," the main character is seeking revenge on the man who killed his wife and son. He goes to a paint store to purchase a gun and declares that he has the right to take justice into his own hands. He is frustrated with the legal system, accusing the convicted killer of getting away on a technicality, and the implication is that he plans to capture the man and inflict punishment on him himself. Throughout the song, the main message is that he has the right to seek revenge, and the killer has no protection from the law this time.
The lyrics of this song evoke a dark and vengeful mood. The singer feels that the justice system has failed him, and he must take matters into his own hands to see that the murderer of his family is punished. The lyrics indicate the extent of his anger and the intensity of his emotions. This song portrays the anger, frustration, and despair that can be felt when the justice system fails someone.
Line by Line Meaning
I went down to the Mary Cater Paint Store
The singer went to the Mary Cater Paint Store
I said, give me one of them Smith & Wesson Magnum .44s
The singer asked for a Smith & Wesson Magnum .44 at the store
Cause there's a man that the law let loose and justice was not done
A man who killed the singer's wife and son was freed by the law without justice being served
I'll never forget the way he looked all through the trial
The singer will always remember the killer's demeanor during the trial
He had a big name lawyer and he had that smirky smile
The killer had a famous lawyer and a smug smile
Oh yeah, he got you off on a technicality
The killer got off on a technicality or a legal loophole
But you'd have to grow wings and fly to ever get away from me
The killer cannot escape from the singer's wrath
Cause I got rights
The singer has rights
I got rights too
The singer also has rights
And this time there won't be no damn lawyers and systems to protect you
The killer will not be protected by lawyers and legal systems this time
But I'm gonna read you - I'm gonna read you your rights
The singer will read the killer his rights
You got the right to know that you're gonna go to hell one of these black nights
The killer has the right to know that he will go to hell one of these black nights
And when the trial was over he had the nerve to say that's the way it goes
After the trial, the killer had the audacity to say that's the way things happen
I said, well hoss you better get you some corks cause your gonna have to plug up a few holes
The singer threatened to shoot and kill the killer
I guess he thought I was talkin' just to pass away time
The killer might have thought that the singer was talking casually
But he kinda looks different now on his knees beggin' for his life
The killer looks scared and different, begging for his life on his knees
Yeah, and this time there aint no damn lawyers and systems to save you
The killer has no lawyers or legal systems to save him this time
Contributed by Natalie K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.