A true classic.
A while back, Whiskey Myers frontman, Cody Cannon, shared his pick for the Sad Country Songs Make Me Happy series to be “Weatherman” by Hank Williams Jr.
“Let’s go with ‘Mr. Weatherman,’ Hank Williams Jr. That would probably be the first real sad song that I really, really dug, you know what I mean?
It’s still up there for me, so I would say ‘Mr. Weatherman.’ That record was ‘The Pressure Is On,’ that was the first cassette tape I ever had when I was a kid.”
I’ve always loved this song, but it honestly has fallen off my radar over the last few years. After seeing the title resurface through this series, it reminded me how damn good this song is.
The ominous lyrics could be applied to any hard phase of life. The opening guitar riff is iconic and, followed by the long, drawn-out words in each line of the lyrics, hit you straight in the heart.
It’s the kind of song you want to blare after you get home from the bars and belt out with a beer in your hand for a “dance like nobody is watching” kind of moment.
“Weatherman”
While I had this tune blasting in my apartment the other day, a cover of the song was next up on my YouTube queue, and it was Mr. Hank Williams Jr.’s son… Sam Williams.
Sam Williams covered his father’s iconic song in 2019 as a single, and hearing it for the first time blew me away.
Sam gives the song a modern twist while still keeping the roots of what makes the song so great intact.
The song’s opening features radio static, and the intro takes more of an acoustic approach drawing the listener in. Williams draws out his vocals just like his grandfather and puts a tinge of twang on the end of each word.
When the chorus rolls out around, he lets it rip.
What a way to keep your dad’s living legend alive, and what a way to give a song justice through a cover.
