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.
Old Habits
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I tried the hard stuff but I had to let all that go
But the toughest thing I ever gave up was today
'Cause old habits like you are hard to break
I use Life Savers to help me get off cigarettes
But you know for your love, I ain't found no Life Savers yet
And I've gone cold turkey, 'cause there's not even one kiss a day
Old habits like you are hard to break
Love with someone new is so hard to make
I had grown so use to you and all of your ways
And old habits like you are hard to break
In Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Old Habits," the artist talks about the difficult process of giving up old habits. The first two stanzas represent past attempts to quit smoking and other habits, but the last stanza introduces the problem the singer is facing now. He claims that old habits, like the person he's singing about, are the hardest to break.
The song has a relatable theme to it, as anyone who has tried to change something fundamental in their life knows how hard it is to give up habits, especially ones that have become a comfort zone. The lyrics are well crafted, and the purposeful use of the word "habit" and "addiction" shows that the artist understands the difficulty behind break old patterns.
Line by Line Meaning
I kicked the habit, of smoking back some time ago
I stopped smoking a while ago
And I tried the hard stuff but I had to let all that go
I used to do drugs but I stopped doing them also
But the toughest thing I ever gave up was today
Breaking up with you was the hardest thing I've ever done
'Cause old habits like you are hard to break
You were a habit that was hard to break
I use Life Savers to help me get off cigarettes
I've tried everything to quit smoking except for you
But you know for your love, I ain't found no Life Savers yet
No one else has helped me like you can
And I've gone cold turkey, 'cause there's not even one kiss a day
I've cut you out of my life completely, even though I miss you
Old habits like you are hard to break
You were my biggest addiction, and it's hard to move on
Love with someone new is so hard to make
It's hard to find a new love that compares to you
I had grown so use to you and all of your ways
I was used to everything about you, the good and the bad
And old habits like you are hard to break
You were a habit that was hard to break
Lyrics © BOCEPHUS MUSIC INC
Written by: HANK JR. WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@chanteflett7792
Well, I kicked the habit, of smoking back some time ago
And I tried the hard stuff but I had to let all that go
But the toughest thing I ever gave up was today
'Cause old habits like you are hard to break
I chew Life Savers to help me get off cigarettes
But you know for your love, I ain't found no Life Savers yet
And I've grown cold turkey, 'cause there's not even on kiss a day
And old habits like you are hard to break
Old habits like you are hard to break
Love with someone new is so hard to make
I had grown so use to your love and all of your ways
And old habits like you are hard to break
@user-fj2bv4mb3i
R.I.P Grandma I love you and I hope heaven is treating you good. This is the last song she ever sang before she went into the hospital and unfortunate never came home... Never take life for granted.
@janielipsmeyer316
My husband loved Hank Williams, Jr’s songs and would sing and play many of them, including Old habits. We are married 45 years when he passed 6 years ago. Only after he passed I found so much fondness for Hank’s songs , especially this one. I know my husband is happy walking with Jesus in heaven.
@albertmalouff8779
Amen, I'm so sorry, damn
@kennyrhodes233
Smoking dope & listening to Hank Jr is therapeutic !!
@maryvickery1677
If you don't sing Old Habits to at least one girl in your entire life, you ain't living.
@c0derealitydotcom
People just don't realize that Hank Williams Jr SAVED Country music. Country music in the early 1970's was going out of style. We should all be grateful of him for saving it.
@sullyjelly7577
Then Garth Brooks came along and it all went to hell.
@kennethgilbert8475
Once George Jones got old were he wasn't as good as he used to be Hank brought country music back
@aaronnbroussard3108
I THINK HE NEEDS TO SAVE IT AGAIN 🤔🤪😁😀 BECAUSE IT SURE HAS DRIFTED OFF 😏😞 🙂🙏🙋♂️
@jerryhopper1685
@@aaronnbroussard3108 You are exactly right we have lost country music and its gone for good this time it Sad that Nashville is playing the chit thy play POP COUNTRY MUSIC SUX