Hank Williams, Jr.'s Greatest Hits, Vol. 1

iTunes Review

Hank Williams, Jr. wasn't the only person helping to introduce a new attitude to Seventies Nashville, nor was he the most talented, but he understood his audience better than any other country artist of the period. The ten songs on Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 appealed to a new country music listener, or at least a new image the country music listener had of himself — the rootin’, tootin’ Southerner who appreciates cold beer and hot women as much as he does old-fashioned family values. One has to respect Williams Jr. for refusing to replicate his father’s hallowed sound, and his style owes as much to Lynyrd Skynyrd as it does George Jones. This is music for tailgate parties and tractor pulls, and its one-liners and patriotic slogans would influence a generation of performers to come. Yet, even as Williams Jr. ushered in a new era of Nashville songwriting, “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound” is as pure a honky tonk song as anyone could imagine, and “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)” reveals a vulnerability underneath its boozy bluster. It is far from strict traditionalism, but Hank Sr. would be proud nonetheless.