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.
Losin' You
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You don't do nothin' that I tell you anyway
And now you're tellin' me to walk out your door
Ain't no denyin' you been lyin' ain't no mistakin' my heart is breakin'
Ain't do much choosin' that I'm losin' losin' you
I finally find out the way you are and it's so hard for me to take
I can't understand your feelin's I wish I had known before it was too late
Ain't no denyin'...
Ain't no denyin'...
In Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Losing You", the singer is addressing someone they've been in a relationship with. The singer is clearly fed up with the other person's behavior and informs them that they won't be tending to them anymore. They assert that the other person doesn't listen to them anyway and that the other person is now asking the singer to leave. The singer then laments the fact that they've finally found out the true nature of the other person, which is hard for them to take. The singer admits that they don't understand the other person's feelings and wishes they had known earlier.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the fact that the singer is losing the other person, even though they didn't have much choice in the matter. The lyrics suggest a sense of resignation about the situation, as if the singer knows that things are coming to an end and there's nothing they can do about it.
Overall, "Losing You" is a sad song about the end of a relationship that didn't work out. The lyrics convey a feeling of disappointment and regret that things didn't turn out differently.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I told you once and I told you twice and I ain't gonna tended to you no more
I have expressed my concerns about our relationship on multiple occasions but I am no longer willing to put up with your behavior.
You don't do nothin' that I tell you anyway
I have made requests and given orders, but you seem to disregard them entirely.
And now you're tellin' me to walk out your door
You are now telling me to exit our relationship.
Ain't no denyin' you been lyin' ain't no mistakin' my heart is breakin'
It's clear to me that you have been untruthful, and it's causing me significant emotional turmoil and distress.
Ain't do much choosin' that I'm losin' losin' you
I didn't have much of a say in losing you, but it's evident that things between us are coming to an end.
I finally find out the way you are and it's so hard for me to take
I have finally discovered your true nature, and it's difficult for me to accept.
I can't understand your feelin's I wish I had known before it was too late
It's impossible for me to grasp how you truly feel, and I regret not finding out sooner, before it was too late.
Ain't no denyin'...
There's no denying that our relationship is coming to an end.
Ain't no denyin'...
Our parting is undeniably happening, and I must come to accept it.
Contributed by Lincoln P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.