Sam Williams Completely Loses The Plot on “Countrystar”
It very well could be that the son of Hank Williams Jr., and the grandson of Hank Williams will be responsible for releasing the worst song in the entire pantheon of what anyone could ever construe as “country music” in 2025. And though such an offense would regularly elicit some sort of rant or other scathing rebuke here, this doesn’t feel like a moment for vitriol or sarcasm. This is so bad, and so off, it feels like something that should give way to serious concern.
It most certainly can’t be easy to be a son of Hank. And whether it’s Hank Williams Jr., Hank Williams III, or Hank3’s son Coleman Williams, they all have rebelled against the family legacy and attempted to carve a path in music that is their own, while also understanding the importance of keeping their family legacy alive. Nobody should want or expect for Sam Williams or any other member of the Williams family to be a reenactment of Hank Williams.
But for Sam Williams, he seems to believe that his path forward is through really terrible hip-hop-infused braggadocios pop that is so vapid and devoid of self-awareness, the only possible viable excuse for its horribleness is that it’s self-parody. Unfortunately though, there is no evidence this is the case. With a straight face, he White boy raps, “I’m the new Elvis Presley” and “I’m Peyton [Manning] in the backfield.” But in truth, most people even in country music still don’t know that Sam Williams exists.
While the promotional copy his new song “Countrystar” talks all about pushing the boundaries of country and carving out his own enterprising path forward, the song is quite literally the opposite of this. It’s the most conformist, safe, mono-genre mass appeal-pandering pop that is humanly possible. It’s also not in anyone’s universe a “country” song, despite the inference of the title and the fact that it was released by Mercury Nashville.
Sam has been steering away from conventional country music ever since his pop-infused album Glasshouse Children from 2021. Then shortly thereafter, there was an unusual situation where he claimed that he was under a restrictive conservatorship, and wanted out, not dissimilar to the infamous Brittany Spears drama. Sam’s sister Katie was killed in a car accident in 2020, and this seemed to significantly affect Sam’s mental health. In the new song “Countrystar,” he references “Hwy 79,” which is the highway that Katie died on.
In October of 2022, Sam Williams also came out as gay, and now is referenced as a “queer country” artist. Sam’s revelation came at a time when most performers in country aren’t shunned for their sexual orientation, but showered with praise and acceptance. However, this also often insulates performers from worthy or constructive criticisms. “Countrystar” is so off, it almost feels like a cry for help.
What is “country”? What is “authenticity”? It’s being true to yourself. Nobody is going to buy that Hank Jr.’s son is some sort of larger than life rapping pop star. He says in the song, “I’m Hank Willi in the flesh, no Wal-Mart Boy.” But as Sam Williams continues on his precipitous slide, Mason Ramsey has risen up to be a surprisingly entertaining and authentic songwriter and performer.
But this isn’t about piling on Sam Williams and this patently terrible song. “People first, then music” is the mantra we all should adhere to. It doesn’t feel like Sam Williams deserves a tongue lashing here. It feels like he needs a welfare check.
It would be unfair for us to project that Sam Williams must be country, or even that he must be a performer. But when you’re calling yourself country when you’re clearly not, and doing this strange pop/hip-hop thing that’s patently terrible no matter what you try to call it, it runs counter to everything the Williams name stands for.
At this point, I just hope that he’s okay.
– – – – – – – – –
“Countrystar Lyrics”:
I’m a country star, still blue collar
Wouldn’t ever care about a unfollow
Wasn’t Green Hills, I grew up in the holler
Highway 79
It’s ’97 on my passport, and I’m good at 713 and in Bergdorf
NYC Selfridges London
My legacy could never be undone
Competition, why yes, I would love some.
You can pay me in respect or lump sum
I’m Hank Willi in the flesh
No Wal-Mart Boy
I’m Emo with the sex, no Fall Out Boy
All I know is I’ma stay extra paid
So my son can go to school with the Kennedys
He ain’t even gotta go in Nashville
Could wear a cowboy hat or a flat bill
The game is over ‘case the singin’ lady’s fat still
They can’t write, can’t sing, can’t rap real
It feels like ’98 I’m Peyton in the backfield
Me vs. industry, McCoy’s and the Hatfield’s
And I’ma hit up Bill Lee with a progressive bill
And I’m the new Elvis Presley with the pressure build.
Wising on a country star, you’ll remember where you are
When your eyes lock with mine from afar at the bar
You can come with if you gonna keep it real
You know I’ll give you pretty kids, mansion on a hill
Looking up at the sky out in Tennessee, wishing on a country star
Crown is in my hand, and I’m always playing keep away.
You may feel like nothing is the same
March 4, 2025 @ 10:56 am
“Country-inspired” rap is exactly like this song; braggadocious and lacking self-awareness. This song sounds like a mashup of Upchurch, Sam Hunt, and Beyonce. As someone who has zero respect for rap, whenever I read about one of these delusional idiots OD’ing I don’t even hesitate to move on to something else…like checking my stocks.
March 4, 2025 @ 11:04 am
I try to have respect for rap as an art form. I definitely don’t want to hear about anyone OD-ing. But it’s the braggadocios nature of hip-hop brought to country that I find the most nauseating. It’s so counter to what country music is supposed to be all about, which is the celebration of the common man.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:22 pm
That’s exactly it. Rap lacks the vulnerability and honesty of Country music I’ll amend my statement about hating rap slightly; I can respect the differentiation in talent that old school rap artists have vs this new style of rap. This new style of rap has such a low bar of entry that quite literally anyone can make it, and it ends up sounding the same as everything else in the mainstream. There will be at least one dude in every Rent-A-Center in the USA who could make this shit.
I like Rage Against the Machine, Fu Manchu and other 90’s music that mixed multiple genres with Rock music, but man mainstream music as a whole took a nosedive after the 90’s.
March 4, 2025 @ 2:29 pm
You sound like a person talking about country music whose only point of reference is Sam hunt and Johnny cash. Yeah old country was good but now it’s all these Sam hunt guys
March 6, 2025 @ 11:10 am
Yeah, I chuckled when I read “old school rap artists vs this new style of rap.” Like, what is this “new style of rap”?
I certainly don’t listen to much rap these days, but to act like there is just one “style” of an entire genre is ignorance rather than a critique. Just as there are dozens of “styles” of country music, the same is true of rap and virtually any other genre.
March 4, 2025 @ 2:27 pm
I mean rap is about the same thing just in a different way. The experiences and perspectives of common white and black people are different. Rap is first and foremost rooted in poor people aspiring for better lives
March 4, 2025 @ 3:34 pm
..which is why the lyrics are almost entirely on buying flashy expensive items, being a pimp and using hoes, and violence?
March 4, 2025 @ 4:15 pm
I think that kind of reductionism is pretty silly. But like yes rap music grew out of the experiences of poor black people in the 70s-90s. This manifests in a lyrical focus on violence in large part because of the violence these poor people grew up around. Rap lyrics are actually significantly less violent now as violence in American cities itself has massively declined since the 70s and 80s. But I’m not sure how you don’t get how the theme of buying flashy items as you say is an outgrowth of the aspirations of poor people. That’s a really natural connection. That idea so common in rap of I grew up in a poor and violent place and my dream is for something better.
Rap music and country music have a lot in common. Both value authenticity more than other forms of music. Both are the music of common people expressing their experiences. It’s just the experiences of poor black people in major cities and poor white people in rural areas are different.
March 4, 2025 @ 4:40 pm
Saying that about rap is like saying country music is only about inbred cousins riding around in a pickup drinking out of a red solo cups.
I guarantee there are a bunch of old black dudes complaining about today’s rap wondering about whatever happened to the good old days…
March 4, 2025 @ 6:53 pm
What a stupid comment. Name one Country song about inbred cousins.
And have you never heard ANY rap song?!? Almost all of it is violence, drugs, hoes, and bragging about expensive shit. This description is a clique for a reason. Don’t hide behind vague platitudes about it having a deeper meaning tied with black culture. It doesn’t.
March 5, 2025 @ 8:25 am
Just one song? Dead South have one. That sang about being my own grandpa is another. I am sure I am missing plenty of others.
I have heard plenty of rap. And just like country music I don’t like it all. But to paint the whole genre like you do is ignorant. If somebody turned the lyrics from The Message into a country song you wouldn’t know the difference.
March 5, 2025 @ 1:46 pm
Quoting myself from below-
I don’t entirely agree with Strait’s point, it’s a surface-level critique that contains some truth but is missing a lot of nuance that in-depth listening/knowledge of hiphop woud provide, but the Dead South is A) not country, and B) carpetbagging rich kids from suburban Regina with a flat-picked banjo, primarily inspired by Mumford & Sons and engaged in a minstrel-show mockery of a culture that they lack even the faintest connection to.
March 5, 2025 @ 3:06 pm
The Dead South play a different bunch of styles regardless from where they are from. I look forward to more country music from them once they come from our 51st state. Regardless, it’s still a song about inbred cousins.
Also forgot the song from IV called …. Wait for it…Inbred. A Williams no less.
March 6, 2025 @ 11:30 am
“Almost all” of rap songs are about that? Man, that is a surprising depth of knowledge for someone who doesn’t even like the genre!
I rarely listen to rap these days and wouldn’t even call myself a rap “fan,” but even I can think of dozens of rappers/rap groups who aren’t just writing about “violence, drugs, hoes, and bragging about expensive shit.” Kendrick Lamar, Run the Jewels, Doomtree, P.O.S., Mike Mictlan, Frank Ocean, Macklemore, Tyler the Creator, Childish Gambino, J.Cole, NF, Atmosphere, Matisyahu, hell, even Eminem all come to mind.
You’re just doing that whole “modern country sucks (based just on bro country like Florida Georgia Line)” thing. It’s ok to not be interested in a genre without knowing a lot about it.
March 6, 2025 @ 1:16 pm
You are no different than the people who think all country is Morgan Wallen. There are hip hop songs with more emotional depth and self reflection than your closed mind could fathom
March 4, 2025 @ 12:40 pm
It’s not the lyrics of an previously unreleased Irving Berlin song?
March 4, 2025 @ 1:17 pm
There are creative and innovative things being done in hip-hop today, but just like with country or any other genre of music, a great deal of it isn’t played on mainstream commercial radio which will instead overplay Drake and his mumble-rap brethren.
That said, the comparisons to Elvis could be an alarm bell. Being “the next Elvis” could possibly be a reference to Elvis’s sad final years. Regardless of what you think of his music, no one wants that to happen to him.
March 4, 2025 @ 11:07 am
It is sort of interesting to take the two musical genres whose fans are most concerned with “authenticity” – country and rap – and fuse them together in a song that is almost perfectly inauthentic.
If I thought it was intentional, I might be kind of impressed. (Like when I heard Rednecker for the first time and thought it was a great parody song. Imagine my disappointment.)
March 4, 2025 @ 12:11 pm
I like how he immediately goes from saying he was raised in the holler to mentioning his passport.
March 4, 2025 @ 11:33 am
As awful as that is (and it surely is), it probably has less to do with him and more to do with the way people listen to music now, the audience dictates too much,and if you’re audience is strictly kids and you’re objective is popularity that’s what you get.Hank, Bocephus,and 3 all had to appeal to such a wide audience they had to get good.That just ain’t in the cards for this kid probably.
March 4, 2025 @ 11:49 am
But that’s the crazy thing about this song. If Sam Williams wants to go pop/hip-hop for popularity, he immediately becomes a small fish in a big sea. Also, right now there is nothing more popular than country. That is why Beyonce and Post Malone are releasing “country” albums, and why Chappell Roan and others are releasing country songs. They wish they had the bonafides Sam Williams brings to the table.
We have pop artists making country, and country artists making pop. That’s one of the reasons so much modern music is bad. Aces in their places.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:44 pm
Chappell Roan is probably the best of the pop artists to make a move into Country. She has legit talent: she is a great singer and her songs have good songwriting.
March 4, 2025 @ 11:45 am
That looks like it was generated in some early version of beta AI and completely unedited.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:58 pm
Well, the present day AI gave me these “in-style-of Hank Williams” lyrics;
Constipation blues, got me singin’ this song
Constipation blues, been ailin’ me long
Stomach’s in knots, and my face turnin’ red
Wish I could just flush away, these thoughts in my head!
This ain’t heartache and whiskey, this is a different kind of pain
This is the kind that drives a good man insane
Constipation blues, got me cussin’ and moan
Lord, deliver me now, from this misery zone!
And it’s actually better than the lyrics in the article…
March 4, 2025 @ 11:54 am
I prefer “queer country” artists that are better songwriters, like Chely Wright, or the late Holly Dunn.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:03 pm
I don’t see what sexual preferences have to do with songwriting at all, but I guess that’s not exactly a creative or groundbreaking opinion at this point.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:20 pm
Other than maybe some purely commercial sorts of works, art is always going to be informed by the background of the artist. Even if the works themselves (i.e., songs here) don’t directly touch on the themes directly, an LGBT artist is going to have a different background and perspective than an artist who doesn’t have that background.
If nothing else, they are always going to be somewhat of an outsider in at least that respect to the communities that are typically the focus of country music (i.e., rural America, which tends to be socially conservative and Christian), and thus they may have a perspective that more integrated community members lack.
March 4, 2025 @ 1:06 pm
You got me thinking, and suddenly I found “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” very creepy…
March 4, 2025 @ 12:13 pm
Orville Peck is interesting. Objectively what I heard from him is good music.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:36 pm
Peyton Manning has hosted the CMA’s a few times in a row. That’s the closest thing to country music this abomination can rightfully claim. And if he’s gay, how is going to have a son that goes to school with the Kennedy’s
March 4, 2025 @ 12:42 pm
She looked like a guy? I’ve seen quite a few of them recently.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:43 pm
Sam Williams already has a son. I don’t know many details on him, but I know Sam became a father pretty early in his career. He’s referenced it multiple times.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:46 pm
The Peyton Manning reference shows a hysterical lack of self-awareness. It reminds me of some short video I saw on Instagram of a male sports commentator in his 20’s being unable to bench 135 pounds one time.
March 4, 2025 @ 12:50 pm
Good Lord, that’s worse than a Tom MacDonald song.
March 4, 2025 @ 2:03 pm
It happens.
Henry IV was a great ruler. Henry V was a magnificent war hero. Henry VI was a feeble loser.
Hank and Hank Jr. are all-time legends. This guy won’t be.
March 4, 2025 @ 3:37 pm
I would rather hear people trapped under a train screaming for help because their legs are shattering than this.
I have no idea if it is good or bad, but I am certain it is not country and it is a collection of horrific sounds.
March 4, 2025 @ 10:53 pm
I’m sure there is a market for audio files of people screaming in agony because their limbs are being crushed.
It’s probably for sale on the Dark Web.
March 4, 2025 @ 3:51 pm
Yea i wouldnt consider it bad or good really. I def dont plan on listening to it again
March 4, 2025 @ 8:25 pm
It’s definitely bad you tone deaf moron
March 4, 2025 @ 5:51 pm
Trying to make his little mark by being outrageous. He’ll be gone soon, though most don’t know he ever arrived.
March 4, 2025 @ 6:33 pm
I’d rather overdose in Denver than listen to it
March 5, 2025 @ 6:08 am
If the South Woulda Have Won, this song doesn’t exist.
March 5, 2025 @ 7:29 am
Well played.
March 4, 2025 @ 7:37 pm
He looks high af in that video. But I suppose you’d have to be.
March 4, 2025 @ 10:55 pm
It’s a family tradition.
March 4, 2025 @ 7:49 pm
Sam Williams is an incredible artist and lyricist. I love that he’s branching out from his previous type of work and finding his way. “Country Star” has the potential to be the song of the summer for 2025. The lyrics kill and mixed with Sam’s amazing voice, this song really shines above what else is out there right now. He’s fearless and isn’t afraid to shy away from who he is or where he comes from. He doesn’t let the legacy of the Williams’ name hang over his head. Instead, he embraces it, honors it, and makes it his own. If anyone is going to freshen up the lineage and bring it into 2025, Sam is on his way to making his own mark in this family line of innovaters.
March 4, 2025 @ 11:09 pm
The family line goes from this;
Hank Senior:
The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome, I could cry
Through this;
Hank Junior:
Now you can put on this garter belt
Wear this hot little dress
No it doesn’t leave much for imagination
But it shows off your assets
I can fix us a drink
While you slip into these things
To this;
Sam Williams:
All I know is I’ma stay extra paid
So my son can go to school with the Kennedys
He ain’t even gotta go in Nashville
Could wear a cowboy hat or a flat bill
The game is over ‘case the singin’ lady’s fat still
Three songs covering ca. 75 years of modern history, and also a perfect example of the decline in our collective IQ.
March 5, 2025 @ 7:50 am
Hank Jr is a LEGEND. You’ve cherry picked a very insignificant song from his catalog to try and insinuate hes somehow inferior. Very dishonest. His best work started in the 70s and ran through early nineties. Amazing run of music. Try these songs out:
Mr Weatherman
Montgomery In the Rain
Mr Lincoln
Old Habits
All in Alabama
The Pressure is On
A Country Boy Can Survive
I’ve Been Down
Major Moves
Blues Man
Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound
Dixie on My Mind
Living Proof
All my Rowdy Friends have settled Down
Man of Steel
Twodot Montana
That’s just a start. In these parts, Hank Jr is a big, big deal. He’s had an amazing career.
March 5, 2025 @ 2:55 pm
But by 1988, when Junior wrote “Dirty Mind’, the lifestyle had taken it’s toll on his gifts. It had became so bad that he – almost solely – are to blame for the tragedy of “bro country”.
Junior was every bit his father’s equal – for awhile – but he became too self-obsessed as his fame hit the roof. It ruined his music and his reputation.
And Hank Senior would’ve ended up recording muzak during the 60’s anyway, like so many of his peers from the golden days. Dying at 29 made him a legend.
Just ask Lefty Frizzell. Better than Hank Sr. at everything, but he survived the 50’s and ended up largely forgotten within the end of that decade
Not to mention Bill Haley.
March 5, 2025 @ 3:59 pm
Jr had an unbelievable run of gold and platinum albums. His overall body of work is incredibly solid. Later work is more often than not sub- par. And, he’s an arrogant character, and known to be a drunk, all true. But his legacy based on that amazing run of albums is why he’s in the Hall of Fame, and why he’s a rock solid Legend. I largely don’t expect these guys to be amazing later in life. The excesses of the lifestyle tend to wreck a man. Buts that’s a different subject entirely.
Don’t get me started on Hank III. Also a highly talented and creative entertainer, but he lived full throttle to such an insane degree, he burned out on drugs and booze and it wrecked him. At least Jr got some good hobbies that keep him calmer and provide an outlet.
March 5, 2025 @ 11:40 pm
Hank Jr.’s outlet from 1974’s “And Friends’ (especially the B-side) and well into the 80’s are second to Merle’s 60’s and early 70’s run only. He was better than the rest back then. I even like a lot of his “pre-outlaw” stuff, and he wrote some danged good songs along the way.
But, as you pointed out, the lifestyle gets in the way, their bubble grows and the yes-men surrounding them takes care of the rest.
His persona aside; Junior is a giant nonetheless. Consistently good, often great, from his mid-teens well into his 30’s, and no slouch thereafter neither.
Only Michael Jackson can equal that.
And the less said about Hank 3 and Shooter, the better.
March 5, 2025 @ 12:11 am
The millennials that that song is aiming at have mostly not even have heard of Hank Williams. Their FATHERS are probably familiar with the name, to the extent of “Isn’t he that guy with the beard and the guitar who sang the Monday Night Football song?
I have nothing for or against Sam Williams, but I don’t think being Hank Williams grandson or Hank Jr.’s son is exactly a catapult to stardom in his world.
March 5, 2025 @ 4:06 am
Reply to Strait: Banjo Odyssey by The Dead South
March 5, 2025 @ 8:41 am
I don’t entirely agree with Strait’s point, it’s a surface-level critique that contains some truth but is missing a lot of nuance that in-depth listening/knowledge of hiphop woud provide, but the Dead South is A) not country, and B) carpetbagging rich kids from suburban Regina with a flat-picked banjo, primarily inspired by Mumford & Sons and engaged in a minstrel-show mockery of a culture that they lack even the faintest connection to. That dog don’t hunt.
March 5, 2025 @ 5:36 am
Trigger, I so love reading your rants. A lot of people can rant, but you do it with reason and purpose, which is both educating and informing. Please don’t ever stop!
March 5, 2025 @ 8:32 am
If you compare this to all the pop country crap that is played on country radio these days it fits right in. I believe this could be a huge hit. I much prefer Coleman Williams 2 CDs Southern Circus and Hang Dog.
March 5, 2025 @ 8:44 am
I respectfully disagree. Country radio will not play this song. They won’t even service it to country radio. It couldn’t even hold up beside Morgan Wallen.
March 5, 2025 @ 11:19 am
Graham Barham has a competitor for the worst song of the year. For me, the standard of both he and Sam Williams is low. Not for me. There is a lot of great music out there.
March 5, 2025 @ 2:40 pm
I diagree with with just about every single comment here. Sam has very many layers to his artistry. There are not many country artist or any artist for that matter can do a song like Country Star then turn around and do a song like Weatherman or I’m so Lonesome I could Cry and it sound country. He can also do Americiana. Again, multi layers here. Your guys are all so one dimensionable and that is what is wrong with country music today. You have longevity artists and not. Sam is a longevity aritist. Sam Williams is bringing something fresh to the format. Stop the hate here. There is room for every artist here. Sam is a great artist. Open up your mind set. Ughhhhh so disgusting that you guys can hate on someone so much that is this talented.
March 5, 2025 @ 2:42 pm
I’m finding it funny that some are defending Sam Williams and say its unfair to “hate” on him when he directly calls out another artist (Mason Ramsey) in this song.
“CountryStar” is extremely one-dimensional. The fact that we all know that Sam Williams is capable of more is not a defense of him, it’s a criticism of this song. He’s better than this.
March 5, 2025 @ 11:17 pm
This has nothing to do with the song, but I just wanted to take a moment to plug the
*Four Horsemen of Indigo Country*
–
Orville Peck
Charley Crockett
Paul Cauthen
Billy Strings
–
Are they actually a group? No. It’s all headcanon, but they all have songs/connections to Willie, they all have unique blends of neo-traditional (or bluegrass with Billy) and distinctly modern flavors. Paul covenant Oroville Peck already have a supergroup called The Unrighteous Brothers. They all make people like me, who loves pre-2000s country with a passion, very very very happy. Check them all out. I promise you will not be disappointed.
And before you say Billy doesn’t fit, that is the point. Kris was the odd man out in his group. Also, it’s my fantasy leave me alone. 😂
I just want to share their music with anyone who hasn’t heard it. Please give it a spin!
March 5, 2025 @ 11:24 pm
First off, never, EVER use the term “Indigo” to describe any form of “country.” Spotify doesn’t determine the nomenclature of country, and “Indigo” is a relegation, and an insult to the country artists that are called it, just like “Americana.”
Second, very little about the two recent albums from Orville Peck or Paul Cauthen is in any way country, and regrettably so. It’s “country” for people who don’t like country.
March 5, 2025 @ 11:59 pm
I was being funny with the name. Most of the comment was tongue in cheek other than suggestion itself.
As for “country for people who don’t like country”, I disagree. Like entirely. I grew up on country music. I’ve been listening to it my entire life. Mostly with my grandparents and mostly pre-90s. It’s modern, but it is country nonetheless. Far more country than most of the 2010 stuff.
Also to be fair, I was more referring to their stuff prior to their most recent release for those two. I didn’t even listen to those releases very much myself.
Either way, I should have known my audience better. I’m better off as a lurker.
March 6, 2025 @ 7:23 am
Nah, don’t be a lurker. Join us in the choir and relax; we’re not some angel choir.
March 6, 2025 @ 3:19 am
…what’s making this song not really a good one in general – country or else – is the fact, that without knowing a lot of context, it doesn’t make sense on its own. it is impossible to grasp fror anyone, who’s not familiar with the williamses. sam williams’ song “american actress” of last year was, not because of its country sound credentials, a much better example of expressing what’s going on in his mind.
on the whole though, another fine talent from a musically most giftet family.
March 7, 2025 @ 7:26 am
Autotune.
Why is it always autotune?
March 7, 2025 @ 10:36 am
Any idea what Hank Jr. thinks about Sam’s musical direction? Hank Jr. certainly push boundaries, bringing in elements of Southern Rock, Blues, and New Orleans Jazz to his own music, but this feels like something different. Sam seems to be all over the map. And this move in particular seems to lack the authenticity that characterized Jr’s departures from country music norms. Thoughts?
March 7, 2025 @ 12:51 pm
I’ve not seen anything about Hank Jr.’s sentiments about any of this. They have been pictured in public together. As I said in the article, there was some weird situation with a conservatorship, but much of that information has been sealed from the public. All of this could be Sam rebelling against a man who wrote “Dinosaur,” but I really don’t know.
March 7, 2025 @ 11:09 am
It’s not really my business, but since the question is posed-presumably for everyone–I’ll throw in my two cents of pure speculation.
Sam Williams is a 27-year old man and Hank Jr.’s son. I’d guess that Hank Jr. wishes for all of his children to do well on their own. I think Hank Jr. sees the recorded, and touring music business as a business: one that’s always been tough to navigate, whether in Hank Sr.’s day, or his own day, or the present day. I think Hank Jr. sees himself as something of a dinasaur in terms of how music is made today and what sort of music is popular today–he even said that in one of his songs–so he doesn’t push his children on how to do it, but gives advice if asked.
I think that if this song and video of Sam’s hits it big in any way, shape or form, Hank Jr. will be proud and tickled as hell