Hank Williams Jr. – Rich White Honky Blues

29-06-2022

Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the son of country music legend Hank Williams. Hank Williams Jr. began his recording career as a traditional country singer. In the first phase of his career, he predominantly recorded covers of his father's songs. He also recorded singles under the name Luke the Drifter Jr. (a reference to his father's alias "Luke the Drifter"), and rock and roll singles under the aliases Rockin' Randall and Bocephus, a nickname given to him by his father. Williams' style evolved slowly as he struggled to find his own voice and place within traditional country music, before challenging the country music establishment with a blend of traditional country, rock and blues. This style has been classified as southern rock, country rock, rock and roll, blues rock, outlaw country, country blues and rockabilly. 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. The offspring of famous musicians often have a hard time creating a career for themselves, yet Hank Williams, Jr. is one of the few to develop a career that is not only successful, but markedly different from his legendary father. Originally, Hank Jr. simply copied and played his father's music, but as he grew older, he began to carve out his own niche and it was one that owed as much to country-rock as it did to honky tonk. Hank Williams is a legend and was only 29 when he passed away. While listening to his music I keep wondering what more he could have contributed to country music. Fortunately, we can now enjoy his legacy. For example, Hank Williams Jr. still live and releases new music every now and then. This year at the age of 73 it was time for the son of Hank Williams to record a blues record. Of course, Blues is not too unknown a genre for the Williams family. Hank Williams grew up with blues music and learned it on the street from street musician "Tee-Tot". If you are a little familiar with Hank Williams, this story will look familiar to you. Hank Williams Jr. took over his father's blues past and performed on stage with the greatest blues musicians ever. New record "Rich White Honky Blues" consists mainly of covers. They are covers of, among others, blues legends Robert Johnson, R.L. Burnside and Lightnin' Hopkins. Although I am not very familiar with these blues musicians, the covers of Hank Williams Jr. fleeting, powerful and full of passion. Despite his age of 73, Hank Williams' son still knows perfectly well what music production is. The title "Rich White Honky Blues" is a separate title and there is a short story behind it. The credit for the title goes to comedian Redd Foxx who Hank Williams Jr. met in Las Vegas in his youth. Foxx told Williams that he was a huge fan of his father's music and that he knew all the songs. It stuck with him and years later wrote the title track "Rich White Honky Blues" where he imitated Foxx and shouted: "Lamont ! Why you hanging out with all those old rich white honkies for ?" Many artists so late in their careers can do little more for the music industry. They have a regular group of old fans who still listen to the records, but they don't have an audience of millions. Hank Williams Jr. makes it clear with "Rich White Hony Blues" that the fire is still burning alive. It's not for nothing that producer Dan Auerbach saw potential in the project and that was an excellent move. My adventure in country music has been going on for several years now and I haven't had time to explore Hank Williams Jr.'s body of work yet. to listen. But after listening to "Rick White Honky Blues" that's about to change. Besides that the covers here have an excellent production, the three self-written songs are also very strong. That makes my curiosity about the rest of his oeuvre a lot bigger. Perhaps this tinged blues record is not the best introduction from Hank Williams Jr. his music, but a very nice one. Hank Williams, Jr.'s sound has always been built on the blues and his latest album, "Rich White Honky Blues", is a sonic testimony to that. The project came together over three hot days in Nashville, recorded live with the finest blues session players in the country at producer Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound studio. Never one to rest on his laurels, even after 56 studio albums, the acclaimed Country Music Hall of Fame member is still finding new creative ground to explore. If they get serious about making another "Blues Brothers" sequel, part of the job is done: Hank Williams just showed up with the soundtrack, an album titled "Rich White Honky Blues," on which he covers and emulates the likes of R.L. Burnside, Lightnin' Hopkins and Jimmy Reed. How that sentence made you feel is not going to be changed by anything that follows. Not the news that Williams dips in and out of an alternate persona, referring to himself, often in the third person, as Thunderhead Hawkins; not the verification that this was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys; not the advisory that the 73-year-old Williams, as Thunderhead, gets liberal with the profanity and raunch. You're either going to dig this warts and all, or you're going to perceive it as one big lumpy ball of wart. That's just the way it is, given Williams' very lengthy history as an outlaw, a trendsetter and a sometimes controversial country music icon. Taken on its own, it's pretty good. More "Blues Brothers" than "Blues Brothers 2000," if you will. Williams has said the project comes from his early love of blues; that, and the man's undeniable ability to put a song across, make it a potent little tribute album. Auerbach's biggest contribution may have been a determination not to round off any of the rough edges, and there are plenty. "If you wanted to play this kind of music, you couldn't have better players," Auerbach has said. "The first time I ever saw Hank Jr. on TV, I was a kid raised on Robert Johnson and Hank Williams, Sr. records, and those things came through so clearly watching him. So, I tried to assemble the right parts to just sit in that piece of who he is." You also get guitar work from Kenny Brown, longtime sideman to Burnside, a seal of approval any Burnside fan can respect. Williams also lets you know here and there that he didn't approach this with an excessively serious mindset: After the last beat of "Fireman Ring the Bell," you'll hear him sing the impromptu line "his name his Thunderhead, 'cause he fell off that mountainside," a chuckling reference to one of the most traumatic incidents in Williams' life. In "Call Me Thunderhead," he throws a little zinger at some younger country flatterers: "Now I have heard/ I've gotten the word/ about all these silly imposters running round/ Now let me tell you they ain't real/ They got no scars and no feel/ They don't know nothing about whiskey bent and hell bound." "You bring who you are," said Williams, quoted in promotional materials. "All that ... all ... of ... that ... is where my music comes from. When we got into the studio, the more we played, the deeper we got, and the deeper we got, the harder I wanted to go. Those songs just fit the moment." A lot of this album sounds like Hank, via Thunderhead, emulating other vocalists, Burnside, Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins. "I Like it When it's Stormy" sounds like Hank being Hank. It stands out; if you were having trouble seeing how old blues influenced the new take on country that made Williams a star, here's a Rosetta Stone for you. Where'd the title come from ? In interviews, Williams has pointed the finger at comedian Redd Foxx and cited a line from "Sanford and Son" in which Foxx's character, Fred Sanford, criticized his son for hanging out with rich white honkies. Apparently, as they say, Williams resembled the remark. "I was raised on Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed and Bobby Blue," he sings in the title track. "I hung out with Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker just to name a few/ I'm gon' tell you about Robert Johnson/ everything he said was true." Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound label and studio specializes in giving blues veterans another shot at cutting something down-and-dirty, and that's precisely what the producer/guitarist does with Hank Williams, Jr.: he takes Bocephus all the way back to the blues at the foundation of his music. Working with a band featuring slide guitarist Kenny Brown, bassist Eric Deaton, and drummer Kinney Kimbrough (son of Delta house-rocker Junior Kimbrough, one of Auerbach's idols), Auerbach keeps the session loose, dirty, and greasy, giving Hank Jr. plenty of space to snarl, boogie, and curse. Yes, the Parental Advisory sticker on Rich White Honky Blues is earned, but it's impossible to imagine a listener younger than Auerbach being enticed by this gnarled blues as it's the sound of a cranky old braggart who almost seems annoyed that he can still muster the energy to sing with conviction. Amazingly, that's precisely what Hank Jr. does on Rich White Honky Blues. Since he's not quite in the driver's seat here, it's his show but the Easy Eye Sound crew sets the course and the pace, the band can settle into a nasty groove and Hank can sing whatever he wants. Usually, he sings about himself, often in the guise of his invented persona "Thunderhead Hawkins," and while that braggadocio can sometimes be wearying on his country records, it's amusing, even infectious, here thanks to a band who seem to be having a whale of a time getting down with this ornery old git.

1 .44 Special Blues Written By - Robert Johnson 1:58

2 Georgia Women Written By - R.L. Burnside 4:05

3 My Starter Won't Start Written By - Lightnin' Hopkins 3:14

4 Take Out Some Insurance Written By - Jimmy Reed 3:58

5 Rich White Honky Blues Written By - Hank Williams Jr. 3:56

6 Short Haired Women Written By - Lightnin' Hopkins 4:54

7 Fireman Ring The Bell Written By - R.L. Burnside 5:28

8 Rock Me Baby Written By - Muddy Waters 3:57

9 I Like It When It's Stormy Written By - Hank Williams Jr. 3:19

10 Call Me Thunderhead Written By - Hank Williams Jr. 4:03

11 TV Mama Written By - Lou Willie Turner 4:04

12 Jesus, Won't You Come By Here Written By - Lightnin' Hopkins 2:50