HANK WILLIAMS JR.

Emerging from his famous father’s shadow, Hank Williams Jr. created an influential sound of his own that blended country, blues, and rock. His music was bold, boisterous, defiant, outspoken, and often intensely biographical. Williams Jr. knew how to entertain a crowd before he finished third grade. Born Randall Hank Williams on May 26, 1949, in Shreveport, Louisiana, he moved to Nashville a month later, when his father, Country Music Hall of Fame member, Hank Williams, accepted an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry. His father gave him the nickname “Bocephus,” which stuck. After his father’s death, in 1953, he was raised by his mother, Audrey Williams. Under the guidance of his mother, Williams Jr. performed his first concert at age eight, joining the Audrey Williams Musical Caravan of Stars, a tour that included the Big Bopper and Carl Perkins. At age eleven, williams jr. appeared as a guest on the Grand Ole Opry. At age fourteen, he released his first album, featuring covers of his father’s songs, and he performed on television’s Jimmy Dean Show, Ed Sullivan Show, and Shindig! At age twenty, williams jr. already had scored eleven Top Forty country hits, and he had released twenty one albums, including a greatest hits compilation.