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.
The Chair That Rocked Us All
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There'll be an auction on the square that just might interest you
It's the first time I've seen most of you since mama passed away
And that old chair that rocked us all will be auctioned off today
Well I guess you know of course I lost the farm that daddy sweated all his life to keep
And even worked sometimes by moonlight when all of us kids were sound to asleep
Now I guess we were all just too busy fulfilling each one's worldly dreams
You know if you could capture all the love that we found in that old chair
Why you could wipe out all the hatred in this old world
And you'd still have a lotta love to spare
Now all I ask and it's not too much is just go with me down to the square
And let's take a look among all the other things at mama's old rocking chair
And look at all the teeth marks put there when we were small
Just go with me for one last look at the chair that rocked us all
Hank Williams Jr.'s song "The Chair That Rocked Us All" tells the story of a family reunion where the family members have gathered for an auction of their belongings. The singer calls everyone to the auction and mentions that the event may interest them. He also says that this is the first time he has seen most of them since their mother's passing. The old chair that was used to rock all of them will be auctioned off today. The singer then details the loss of the family farm that their father worked on all his life. He mentions how the family members were too busy chasing their own dreams and forgot about the chair that held so many memories. He points out that if someone could capture all the love that was shared in that old chair, it could wipe out all the hatred in the world, and there would still be tons of love leftover. The singer then asks everyone to take one final look at the chair that rocked them all, emphasizing the significance of memories tied to the chair in their lives.
Line by Line Meaning
I called you all together for in just an hour or two
I have asked you to gather together because the auction of some important belongings is going to begin soon
There'll be an auction on the square that just might interest you
An auction for various items is taking place in the town square that might be of interest to everyone
It's the first time I've seen most of you since mama passed away
I have not seen most of you since our mother passed away
And that old chair that rocked us all will be auctioned off today
The rocking chair that holds so many memories of our family will be sold in the auction taking place today
Well I guess you know of course I lost the farm that daddy sweated all his life to keep
I lost the farm that our father worked tirelessly to maintain throughout his life
And even worked sometimes by moonlight when all of us kids were sound to asleep
Our father was so committed to the farm that he worked on it even when we were sleeping
Now I guess we were all just too busy fulfilling each one's worldly dreams
Perhaps, we were all too absorbed in pursuing our own personal goals to pay attention to the loss of family heritage
To even care when they took the old chair along with all the other things
When our belongings were taken, including the rocking chair, we didn't seem to mind or even care
You know if you could capture all the love that we found in that old chair
The love, comfort, and happiness that we felt while sitting and rocking in that chair was immense and irreplaceable
Why you could wipe out all the hatred in this old world
The amount of love that was embodied in that chair could have served as the solution for all the hatred, negativity, and issues present in the world
And you'd still have a lotta love to spare
Even after solving all the world's problems, there would still be an abundance of love that existed within that chair
Now all I ask and it's not too much is just go with me down to the square
It's not a big request, but I want all of you to accompany me to the village square
And let's take a look among all the other things at mama's old rocking chair
I want to go and see if our mother's rocking chair is still available among the other items being auctioned
And look at all the teeth marks put there when we were small
We can rewind our memories and look at all the teeth marks on the chair that we made when we were younger
Just go with me for one last look at the chair that rocked us all
Come with me to take one last glance at the beloved rocking chair that gave us so much happiness and unforgettable moments
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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Billy Blanchard
Good stuff old Hank Jr