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.
Rainin' In My Heart
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Since we've been apart
I know I was wrong
Baby, please come home
You got me cryin'
'Bout to lose my mind
Don't let me cry in vain
Honey, I need your love
Darlin', you know why
If you would come back home
There'll be no need for me to cry
Raining in my heart
Since we been apart
I know I was wrong
Baby, please come home
In Hank Williams's "Rainin' In My Heart," the singer is devastated over the fact that his love has left him, and since then, his heart has felt like it's been raining. He knows that he was wrong and is pleading with his beloved to come back to him once again. The emotions run high in the lyrics, with the singer begging for a second chance to prove his love. He feels like he's losing his mind and will continue to cry in vain if his love won't return. Williams's voice captures the raw emotion of heartbreak, making the song an iconic ballad of lost love.
Throughout the song, Williams's lyrics express the classic feelings of a broken heart. The sadness and loneliness that come with the absence of the one you love can be debilitating. The song's repeating chorus, "Rainin' in my heart, since we've been apart; I know I was wrong, baby, please come home," drives home the depth of this ache. As the song builds, the sense of desperation from the singer is palpable. He is willing to do anything to have his love return.
Line by Line Meaning
Rainin' in my heart
I'm feeling very sad and hurt inside
Since we've been apart
Ever since we broke up, I've been feeling this way
I know I was wrong
I realize now that I made a mistake and hurt you
Baby, please come home
I want you to come back to me and make things right
You got me cryin'
I'm crying because I miss you so much
'Bout to lose my mind
I'm on the edge of a breakdown because of how much I miss you
Don't let me cry in vain
Please don't make my tears meaningless by not coming back to me
Try my love just once, again
Please give me another chance to show you my love
Honey, I need your love
I can't live without your love and affection
Darlin', you know why
You know how much I loved you and how sorry I am
If you would come back home
If you return to me, everything will be better
There'll be no need for me to cry
I won't feel sad anymore if you come back to me
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JAMES MOORE, JERRY WEST
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind