The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Hank Jr. unleashes Thunderhead Hawkins on bawdy blues record
NASHVILLE, TENN. » Sometimes it’s hard to tell who Hank Williams Jr. really is behind the dark sunglasses and the beard covering facial scars.
How much of him is a persona — or a stage presence — is further complicated by the fact that Williams takes on multiple identities, whether it’s Bocephus or Thunderhead Hawkins, who is the centerpiece on his latest album. Sometimes he talks about himself in the third person as if he’s reviewing a movie of his life.
“I’m a Gemini,” said Williams, referencing the astrological sign that is represented by twins as a way of explaining who he is.
Williams has often defied easy characterizations. 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. 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.
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.
Blues has always been a part of his musical DNA. 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.
“They don’t have money to give him, but they did have food for the guitar lessons,” said Williams of Payne.
After his father’s death at age 29, Williams Jr. was expected at an early age to follow in his footsteps. 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. “Never been a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Never will be. Period. And I’ve done pretty good.”
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.
His No. 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.
But he also has become headline fodder for his boisterousness and brashness, especially in his later years. He’s not quiet about his conservative political beliefs, likes singing about
God, guns and the South. His comments once cost him the “Monday Night Football” intro spot.
His new record continues to mythologize the macho boogie-woogie man, even as he has reached his 70s. The album is a sexualized romp through Xrated blues material by Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, R.L. Burnside and Muddy Waters, as well as Williams’ own original tunes. Recorded at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, the session musicians include electric slide guitarist Kenny Brown, bassist Eric Deaton, drummer Kinney Kimbrough and Auerbach on guitar.
“We understood each other pretty quick,” said Williams. “I got over there with Kenny and them and Dan, and it was just like pouring water out of a cup. It went pretty smooth and we knocked it out in two and a half days.”