It can’t be easy growing up as the son of one of the greatest country singers of all time.
Hank Williams Jr. entered the music industry at just 8 years old, and started recording music at the age of 14.
As a boy, it was Hank’s idea to play his father’s hits, but as he matured he wanted to branch off and make his own music. And it was a fight to ever get to do his own thing, something that likely gave Bocephus his outlaw spirit that he’s carried with him throughout his career.
When speaking about this struggle during a 1982 interview, Hank admitted that it was fun for him as a child to follow in his dad’s footsteps, but described it as “hell” when he got older:
“It was fun for the little boy to do Hank Williams, but it was hell for the man.”
In fact it got so bad that he admitted that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep going.
Discussing the mental toll that the pressure to follow in the footsteps of his father took on him, Bocephus said that while going through a divorce at the same time, it finally got to be too much:
“My mother, my wife, my manager, everybody was, ‘He’s nuts. Because he’s not gonna be his daddy, he’s nuts.'”
So he decided to end it all, going away into a cabin in Alabama with a bottle of pills that he said “looked like a mayonnaise jar.”
Obviously the suicide attempt failed, and Hank said that he then spoke with a doctor who snapped him back to reality:
“He said, ‘Let me just lay it out there for you. You’ve been taught from the time you can possibly remember to look like, act like, be like, everything exactly like your legendary father.’
He said, ‘They’ve done a damn good job.’ He said, ‘And you’re going to beat him because he died at 29. You’re going to die at 26.'”
Hank Jr. eventually found the freedom to become his own artist – and his own man – cultivating the outlaw reputation that he’s known for through songs like “Family Tradition,” “Whiskey Bent And Hell Bound,” and of course, “A Country Boy Can Survive.”
He’s also embraced his legendary father though, recording his own versions of some of the biggest Hank Williams songs like “There’s A Tear In My Beer,” “Move It On Over” and “Kaw-Liga.”
And it all happened after he was no longer being forced to try to replace his legendary father.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
