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.
Norwegian Wood
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Or should I say she once had me
She showed me her room
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?
She asked me to say and she told me to sit anywhere
So I looked around and I noticed there anywhere
So I looked around
I sat on the rug biding my time
Drinking her wine
We talked until two and then she said
"It's time for bed"
She told me she worked
In the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn't
And crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke I was alone
This bird had flown
So I lit a fire
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?
In Hank Williams Jr.'s song Norwegian Wood, the lyrics portray a story of a past love interest that he once had. He describes the moment when she showed him her room and he compliments it by referring to it as, "good Norwegian wood." The girl then tells him to sit anywhere, but he soon realizes there are no chairs. He decides to sit on the rug, biding his time and drinking her wine. The two talk late into the night until she tells him it's time for bed. She informs him that she has to work in the morning and starts to laugh, while he says he doesn't have any obligations, eventually falling asleep in the bath.
When he wakes up, he's alone, and she has left. Williams responds by lighting a fire, complementing the Norwegian wood once again. The song talks about the fleeting nature of relationships and how quickly things can end, which is representative of life in general. It's a touching and relatable story of young love, and even after many years, continues to resonate with many.
Line by Line Meaning
I once had a girl
I used to be in a relationship with a girl
Or should I say she once had me
In fact, the girl was in charge of the relationship
She showed me her room
She introduced me to her private space
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?
She was impressed by her own bedroom decor, which was Scandinavian-inspired
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere
She invited me to spend some time with her and feel comfortable
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair
I had to settle down on the floor because there was no chair available
I sat on the rug biding my time
I lay down and waited for something interesting to happen
Drinking her wine
We shared a bottle of wine
We talked until two and then she said
We conversed for hours, until it was very late
"It's time for bed"
She suggested we should go to sleep
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh
She made fun of the possibility of having to wake up early the next day
I told her I didn't
I replied that I didn't have to work
And crawled off to sleep in the bath
I found a bathtub to sleep in, as there were no more available sleeping spaces
And when I awoke I was alone
When I woke up, she had already left
This bird had flown
She had left me alone, just like a bird flies away from its nest
So I lit a fire
I tried to keep myself warm by starting a fire
Isn't it good Norwegian wood?
Despite the situation, I still found some positive aspects in the experience, like the wood I used to start the fire
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, O/B/O CAPASSO
Written by: GARY R. STROUTSOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind