The album is a sexualized romp through X-rated blues material by Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, R.L. His new record continues to mythologize the macho boogie-woogie man, even as he has reached his 70s. His comments once cost him the “Monday Night Football” intro spot. He's not quiet about his conservative political beliefs, likes singing about God, guns and the South. 1 hits include “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Family Tradition” and “All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin’ Over Tonight,” which later became the opening theme song for “Monday Night Football.” He's been named entertainer of the year multiple times by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music and won a Grammy for best country vocal collaboration.īut he also has become headline fodder for his boisterousness and brashness, especially in his later years.
Williams moved away from the traditional country that his father was known for and started merging genres - Delta blues, hard rock, country, soul - alongside bands like the Marshall Tucker Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. “Never been a member of the Grand Ole Opry. By the time he was 8, he was performing his late father’s songs on stage, but on the car rides home, he was listening to blues by the likes of Bobby Blue Bland and late-night broadcasts of WLAC, a Nashville-based radio station that played rhythm and blues.“I’m not listening to the Grand Ole Opry,” said Williams. was expected at an early age to follow in his footsteps. “They don’t have money to give him, but they did have food for the guitar lessons,” said Williams of Payne.Īfter his father’s death at age 29, Williams Jr.
His father learned to play guitar in Alabama from a Black bluesman named Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne, but his parents were running a boarding house and had few resources.
His new record, “Rich White Honky Blues,” his first album since 2016, gives more insight into the Country Music Hall of Famer's early years and the influences that would eventually make him a singular artist.īlues has always been a part of his musical DNA. After surviving a near fatal fall off a mountain in 1975, Williams took his own rowdy blue-collar Southern rock sound to new heights, changing the sound of country music. He is the son of an icon, the elder Hank Williams, whose tragic death left him at a young age with a legacy to both uphold and expand upon. Williams has often defied easy characterizations.