You may be cool, but are you Hank Williams Jr. shooting a rifle on stage cool?
I’m not saying this would fly by any means in today’s world, but this makes Morgan Wallen throwing a chair off Chief’s on Broadway look like child’s play.
Back in the ’80s, Hank Williams Jr. was living out every country musician’s dream. He had captured the hearts of country fans with his outlaw sound featuring traditional country stylings with a Southern rock and roll flair. Creating a new path for himself outside of his father’s legacy, Hank Williams Jr. was in his prime in the 1980s, topping the charts as if it were nobody’s business. From “Texas Women,” “Dixie On My Mind,” and “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)” to “Born to Boogie” and “A Country Boy Can Survive,” Hank Jr. was at the top of the country charts time and time again.
At this time, Hank Jr. also adopted his nickname of Bocephus, which was given to him by his late father. He used this as an alter ego to showcase his more rebellious and outspoken persona, which at times clashed with traditional country music fans. But for the fans who loved Bocephus, his wild personality is what kept them shelling out money for his shows.
In the ’80s, Hank Jr. had a stunt during his concerts that fed into this rebellious spirit as he could get on top of the piano and fire a rifle off into the air. Recently, a short clip of this has resurged on social media, making the wild antic go viral.
@halomaster69 #countrymusic #outlawcountrymusic #oldcountry #country #hankwilliamsjr #cool #realcountrymusic #funny #fyp ♬ All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight – Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams Jr.’s piano player at the time, Billy Earheart, opened up about these wild concert antics during a 2022 podcast episode of Pickin’ It Out With Andrew Pope, saying:
“He used to get up there with uhh… he had a like a 30-06 or some kind of rifle, but it had blanks in it. He would climb up on top of the piano and fire off this rifle. And man, that was loud. A couple of times, he accidentally fired it off right by my head, and I’m gonna tell you what…Whew, like to knock me down.”
Host Andrew Pope then says what we are all thinking about how that was a different time, and there is no way an artist could get away with that these days. Ain’t that the truth. Needless to say, the resurfaced footage is shocking to country music fans, leaving some questioning whether those truly were blanks he was firing off.
“Yeah, that’s a felony these days.”
“Hank, those were not blanks, Jr.”
“The 80s Hank Jr was wild definitely, the BEST shows EVERRRR.”
“Hank was a serious party animal in those days.”
“Back when outlaw country was really outlaw.”
“Original Hell Raiser.”
Wonder if this bit led to his five Entertainer of the Year awards he’s won (3 with the ACMs, 2 through the CMA Awards). I mean, talk about one helluva show.
Here’s more from one of those iconic ’80s concerts:
