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Hank Williams Jr. music biography continued...

Louisiana, he began performing when he was eight years old. In 1963, he made his recording debut with "Long Gone Lonesome Blues," one of many of his father's classic songs. He had numerous country hits in the 1960s performing his father's material, but decided to strike out and develop his own unique style. Moving to Alabama in the 1970s in an attempt to re-focus both his creative energy and a troubled personal life, Williams began playing music with Southern rock musicians like Waylon Jennings, Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels. 1976's Hank Williams Jr. and Friends, often considered his "watershed" album, was the product of these then-groundbreaking collaborations. Williams' career began to hit its peak after the Nashville establishment gradually--and somewhat reluctantly--accepted his new sound. Throughout the 1980s he recorded a string of hit albums, including Family Tradition, Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound and Habits Old and New. He also garnered a number of awards including 1987 and 1988 Entertainer Of The Year by the Country Music Association. He reached the pinnacle of his career with the album Born to Boogie, which yielded catchy anthems and hard-edged rock-influenced country tunes that were not only accepted by the country music establishment, but were adored by country rock fans everywhere.



In 1990, Williams earned a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Collaboration for an electronically manufactured duet with his father, "There's A Tear in My Beer," bringing his career full circle. Today, he is probably best known as the performer of the theme song for Monday Night Football, based on his 1984 hit, "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". The opening theme became a classic, as much a staple of the telecast as the football itself. In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Williams' opening themes for Monday Night Football would earn him four Emmy awards. In August 2006 a petition was started online to place Hank Williams, Jr. into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the ultimate honor for a musician who has grown incredibly over the course of his career.