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.
My Girl
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
I've got so much honey the bees envy me
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooh
I don't need no money, fortune, or fame
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
With my girl
I've even got the month of May
With my girl
Hank Williams Jr.'s song My Girl is a romantic love ballad that expresses how happy the singer is with his girl. The lyrics start with a poetic depiction of how the singer's love for his girl brings sunshine to his life even on cloudy days. He asserts that the month of May signifies warmth and happiness, and he has all of that with his girl. The chorus emphasizes how much he loves talking about his girl and how she makes him feel. The second verse compares his love to that of honey that even the bees envy, and his song is sweeter than that of the birds in the trees. The singer goes ahead to say he doesn't need fortune or fame because his girl is all the riches he needs and he continues to pledge his love to her throughout the song. The repetition of the chorus gives an excellent effect to the song and the harmonies in the background add depth to the entire composition.
One interesting fact about the song is that it was released in 1984 as part of Hank Williams Jr.'s album "Major Moves." The song went to number one on both the country chart and the adult contemporary chart. Another interesting fact is that the song was a cover of The Temptations' 1964 hit song "My Girl," which was written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White. Hank Williams Jr.'s version was a rock-and-roll-inflected country interpretation of the R&B classic. Interestingly, the song was the first single from Williams Jr's career ever to reach No. 1 on the contemporary chart.
Another intriguing fact is that "My Girl" is one of Hank Williams Jr.'s most successful chart-toppers, and it remains one of his most memorable hits. Aside from being a chart-topping song, the tune has appeared in several films and TV shows, including "Goodfellas," "Dances with Wolves," and "Remember the Titans." Moreover, Hank's version was used as the theme song to the TV show "American Dad!" for several seasons, and it has been covered by several other artists, including Conway Twitty, Otis Redding, and The Jackson 5.
More recently, the song was featured in a highly memorable moment between Parks and Recreation characters Ron Swanson and Chris Traeger. The two of them go on a wild camping trip, and Ron plays the song on his guitar to express how much he missed his ex-wife, Tammy. The scene became widely shared and fueled a renewed interest in the song. The chord progression of the song remains one of the most familiar in all of pop music, with a simple I-IV-V progression in the key of C major.
In conclusion, Hank Williams Jr.'s "My Girl" is a timeless love ballad that expresses the singer's enduring love for his girl. The song's message of how having someone special in life can bring everything one needs for happiness still resonates today. The simplicity of the lyrics and chord progression makes it easy to sing along and enjoy, and it remains a classic song that has stood the test of time.
Chords: For the chords of Hank Williams Jr.'s "My Girl," the I-IV-V progression in the key of C major can be used, with chords C, F, and G.
Line by Line Meaning
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
Even when life is tough, I have someone to brighten my day - my girl.
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May
Even when it feels like the world is bleak and dark, having my girl is like having a burst of warm sunshine in the middle of spring.
I guess you'd say
You might describe it this way, and you would be correct.
What can make me feel this way?
What could possibly bring this kind of indescribable joy and contentment into my life? The answer is simple, and it's my girl.
My girl (my girl, my girl)
I can't help but talk about how incredible my girl is - it's like I need to say it over and over again just to really get it through to everyone how much she means to me.
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
Really, I can't stop raving about her - she's just too amazing to be kept to myself.
I've got so much honey the bees envy me
My love and devotion for my girl is so strong that even the bees are jealous of what we have.
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees
The music of my heart is filled with a melody that's even more beautiful and sweet than the birds singing in the trees - and it's all thanks to my girl.
Hey hey hey
Just feeling really good today.
Ooh
Just a little sound of contentment and happiness.
I don't need no money, fortune, or fame
With my girl by my side, I don't need any of the traditional things that people strive for in life - my true riches come from my love for her.
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim
In fact, I am so content with my love that I feel like I possess all the wealth and prosperity that a man could ever hope for - and my girl is the treasure that makes it all possible.
With my girl
In the end, everything just comes down to this - the joy and contentment that I feel just from being near my girl. She is truly the one who makes me whole.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: William Smokey Robinson, Ronald White, WILLIAM ROBINSON JR.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind