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.
Lyin' Jukebox
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To your songs all night long
Oh, you think you've got it all figured out
You don't know at all
Everything I've heard from you
It's all a pack of lies
I wouldn't spend another quarter
Lyin' jukebox, ain't you got a song
That tells the truth I didn't do her wrong
Lyin' jukebox, ain't a word of it so
You know I didn't leave her
That woman made me go
Well I think you've already said way too much
And I've had way too many rounds
I never fought a jukebox before
But it's time to hit you down
You've made a whole lotta accusations
Without one bit of proof
And if you say I cheated one more time
I'll pull the plug on you
Lyin' jukebox, ain't you got a song
That tells the truth I didn't do her wrong
Lyin' jukebox, ain't a word of it so
You know I didn't leave her
That woman made me go
You know I didn't leave her
That woman made me go
The lyrics of Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Lyin' Jukebox" depict a man disagreeing with the song choices of a jukebox. He listens to songs all night but thinks that the songs are nothing but a pack of lies. According to him, everything he has heard from the jukebox is a lie, and thus, he wouldn't want to spend another quarter. He confronts the jukebox and demands that it plays a song that tells the truth. The man refutes the accusations being made by the jukebox without any proof. He feels that it has been said too much, and the time has come to stop the jukebox from playing any further. In the end, he makes it clear that he did not leave the woman; instead, she made him go.
The song's lyrics revolve around the theme of lies and truthfulness, which is a common subject in country music. Hank's vigorous vocals and the lively instrumentation in the song add an energetic element to it. Moreover, the song's lyrics effectively describe the singer's frustration with what he sees as the jukebox's skewed perspective of the truth. Overall, the song is an entertaining and relatable depiction of how we tend to want the truth to be spoken in all aspects of life, even in country music.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, I've been sittin' here listenin'
I have been sitting here and listening attentively.
To your songs all night long
I have been listening to your songs throughout the entire night.
Oh, you think you've got it all figured out
You believe that you understand everything.
You don't know at all
However, you are not completely comprehending the situation.
Everything I've heard from you
Everything that I have heard you say
It's all a pack of lies
Is a complete fabrication and untruthful.
I wouldn't spend another quarter
I wouldn't waste any more money
For what you've said tonight
For the words that you have spoken tonight
Lyin' jukebox, ain't you got a song
Deceitful jukebox, don't you have a song
That tells the truth I didn't do her wrong
That speaks honestly and tells the truth that I did not wrong her.
Lyin' jukebox, ain't a word of it so
Deceitful jukebox, not a single word of it is true
You know I didn't leave her
You are aware that I did not leave her
That woman made me go
She was the reason I had to leave that relationship.
Well I think you've already said way too much
I believe that you have already spoken too much.
And I've had way too many rounds
Furthermore, I have consumed too much alcohol.
I never fought a jukebox before
I have never fought a jukebox in my life.
But it's time to hit you down
However, it is time for me to take action and shut you off.
You've made a whole lotta accusations
You have made a significant number of accusations
Without one bit of proof
Without any evidence at all.
And if you say I cheated one more time
If you dare to say one more time that I cheated,
I'll pull the plug on you
I will unplug and stop you from playing any more songs.
You know I didn't leave her
You are fully aware that I did not leave her
That woman made me go
And the reason that I had to go was due to that woman's actions.
Contributed by Eliana A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.