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 Nashville Cowboys
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He was bent by his years and the fight with the wine
With a head full of music and an old nursery rhyme
A heart full of sadness and dark sunken nights
The strength from his youth and the songs from his soul
He said he was family till he got too old
And he called them miners, mother lode finders
Digging so deep in search of more gold
Oh, where are the cowboys and the home on the range?
Does anyone know that they've killed Jesse James?
Now the good guys on TV seem bad, ain't it strange?
And the old Nashville cowboys missed out on the change
The old cowboy's life now is gone with the past
Like the whiskey he drank it all went down too fast
He didn't know how to make each swallow last
And the head waitress won't be back to fill up his glass
Oh, where are the cowboys and the home on the range?
Does anyone know that they've killed Jesse James?
Is anyone listening or is everyone blind?
Them old Nashville cowboys will sing for a dime
And hard times are cheap at the end of the line
The lyrics to Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Old Nashville Cowboys" are a reflection on the changing times and the disillusionment felt by an aging cowboy who has seen the world around him change. The cowboy, burdened by the passage of time and the effects of alcohol, speaks of the way his music and his soul have been stripped away from him. The verses reveal his sense of betrayal by an industry that once felt like family, but abandoned him as he grew older. He views the modern era as one of misplaced values and moral confusion, a place where bad guys are displayed as heroes, and true cowboys, such as himself, are forgotten.
The chorus speaks to this notion, as the cowboy questions where the cowboys and the homes on the range have gone. He laments the loss of Jesse James and the novelty of the once-noble outlaw being portrayed as an entertainment industry star. The cowboy feels that no one is listening, that everyone is blind to the true value of the old Nashville cowboys, who find themselves struggling at the end of the line.
Line by Line Meaning
The old Nashville cowboy was burdened with time
The aging cowboy in Nashville was feeling the weight of time and its effects on his body and mind.
He was bent by his years and the fight with the wine
Years of hard living had taken a toll on his body and his struggle with alcohol had also left its mark on him.
With a head full of music and an old nursery rhyme
Despite his troubles, he still had a love for music and remembered the songs from his early childhood.
A heart full of sadness and dark sunken nights
His heart was heavy with sadness and he had spent many dark, lonely nights reflecting on his past.
He told me they cheated he told me they stole
He felt that he had been wronged by others who took advantage of him and stole his talent and creativity.
The strength from his youth and the songs from his soul
He believed that others had taken away the power he had in his youth, and had also robbed him of his ability to create music that truly came from his soul.
He said he was family till he got too old
He had been a valued member of the music industry until he reached a certain age and wasn't considered profitable anymore.
And he called them miners mother load finders
He referred to the industry insiders who took advantage of him as miners searching for the mother lode of gold.
Digging so deep in search of more gold
They were willing to go to great depths to find success and riches at the expense of others, like the old Nashville cowboy.
Oh where are the cowboys and the home on the range
The cowboy was lamenting the loss of the old ways of life, including the spirit of the American West.
Does anyone know that they've killed Jesse James
He wondered if anyone even remembered the legends of the Old West, such as the famous outlaw Jesse James.
Now the good guys on TV seem bad ain't it strange
He was observing the change in media representation of the American West, where the traditional heroes were no longer deemed as such.
And the old Nashville cowboys missed out on the change
The old Nashville cowboys had been left behind and were now irrelevant in an industry that had moved on to exploit new faces and sounds.
The old cowboy's life now is gone with the past
The old cowboy's way of life was now history, and could never be returned to again.
Like whiskey he drank it all went out too fast
His life had been like a shot of whiskey, where he had consumed it all too quickly and hadn't savored the moments.
He didn't know how to make each swallow last
He never learned how to pace himself, and didn't know how to fully appreciate the experiences he had.
And the head waitress won't be back to fill up his glass
The people who had supported him in the past were no longer around, and he was now truly alone.
Is anyone listening or is everyone blind
The cowboy wasn't sure if anyone was even paying attention to him anymore, or if they were blinded by the new, trendy sounds and images in the industry.
And old Nashville cowboys will sing for a dime
The old cowboys in Nashville had been reduced to playing for small amounts of money, just to survive.
And hard times are cheap at the end of the line
In the end, the cowboy knew that hard times were inexpensive, and he was resigned to a life of struggle and hardship until the very end.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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