Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 17)

Leave them Boys alone 🎶 Ballad of Hank Williams

Sup yall…
it’s time to hank it up…

got two good ones today—
featurin’ some of Hank’s friends
singin’ along…

the first one—
has the great Ernest Tubb
and Waylon Jennings…

the second—
features Don Helms…
legendary steel guitarist
for Hank Sr.’s band
The Drifting Cowboys…

these are two of my favorites…
both are true eyewitness accounts 😄…

you’ll find out…
when you listen…

Leave Them Boys Alone 🎶
Strong Stuff… 1983

Ballad of Hank Williams 🎶
The Pressure Is On… 1981

I actually could write my own
true eyewitness account song
just like these about Hank… 😳…

the first verse might go something like this…

“Hank Jr was the first show I ever seen…
my neighbor took me to see him n’ Atlanta…
he got drunk n’ mean…

but it was ok…
he was alright…

still tried to half-ass
play guitar n’ sing that night…

guess we should have left him alone…
n’ let him sing his song…” 🤷‍♂️ 🎶

Ernest Tubb
Don Helms
Hank n’ Waylon

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson. All rights reserved.

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Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 15)

Living Proof 🎶 Orange Blossom Special

In case you’re unfamiliar…

Hank Williams Jr. was born the son of the one and only
Hank Williams—

a superstar who died in his prime at 29…
cardiac arrest… most likely brought on
by a mixture of drugs and alcohol.

Hank Jr. was just 3 years old.

From that point on—
his life was already decided for him.

His mother began shaping him
to take his father’s place—

thrown on stage as a kid…
dressed like him…
singin’ his songs…

not as himself—
but as a reflection.

And the older he got—
the more he hated it.

He didn’t want to be his daddy…

he wanted to be himself.

To write his own songs—
sing his own truth—
step out of a shadow
that wasn’t his to carry.

But they told him—

no one wants to hear that.

Still—

he didn’t quit.

And eventually…

he broke free.

Today I have two deep cuts for you—

🎵 Living Proof — Living Proof (1974)
🎵 Orange Blossom Special — Man of Steel (1983)

Hope yall enjoy… have a great weekend too.

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson | All rights reserved.

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Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 14)

Old Habits 🎵 Man Of Steel

So I’ve evolved… musically…
since I first started spinnin’ round this world…

My earliest memories—
with my mom and dad—
were The Beach Boys…
and Eagles…

Then around 8… 9 years old—
it was Michael Jackson…
Van Halen…
whatever was lightin’ up the radio back then…

Then came my early teens—
and that’s when Hank Williams Jr. hit me…

And after that…
I just exploded…

Rock…
Folk…
Punk…
Blues…
Rap…
RnB…
Christian…

A little bit of everything—
and somehow… all of it stuck.

But to me…
you can never forget where you came from…

So here’s two excellent ones from my early days—

Allow me to hike up my dress a little for you… so you can see… what im workin’ with… what my roots look like.

Old Habits 🎵
Habits Old and New (1980)

Man Of Steel 🎵
Man of Steel (1983)

and ima bout to listen with you… if you don’t mind. 😎

Featured image credit… Rick Diamond and Getty Images

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson | All rights reserved.

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Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 12)

Gonna Go Huntin’ Tonight 🎶 Here I Am Fallin’ Again

Hey yall… got two more good ones for you…
The first one’s fast… the second one slow…

As I was selecting the songs for this one… I was reminded of my first Hank concert…
I think I was 14… it was me… my best friend Joey… my good buddy Chris… and two neighbor girls… April and Ashley…

Ashley’s mother was a police officer… and she and the chief of police for our town took us all to the concert that night…

It was a crazy and fun night… I won’t go into details… other than just to say… everyone had a lil too much to drink… including Hank…

And I ended up spending the night at Ashley’s house… Got the T-shirt!

My mother was not happy the next day… cuz she was worried about me…
…but you know how us Gen X kids used to roll 😎…

So let’s get to the music…

🎵 Gonna Go Huntin’ Tonight
— Strong Stuff — 1983

🎵 Here I Am Fallin’ Again
— Habits Old and New — 1980

Oh! I also included a pic of the mountain Hank fell off… with a lil diagram… showing the path of his fall… just a miracle that he survived (it was 1975… Ajax Mountain near Wisdom, Montana)

Hope yall enjoy

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson. All rights reserved.

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Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 11)

Dinosaur 🎶 All In Alabama

Sup yall… got two of my favorites for you today…

If I was ever forced to make a top 10 list of Hank songs… both of these are on it—no question.

I’ve played ’em hundreds of times over the years…
for myself… when no one was around…
and for plenty of others along the way…

And honestly… it’s been a little while…

So I think I’m gonna grab my guitar later…
sit back… and run ‘em both again…

Just me… the strings… and that old feeling…

But for now… let me quit talkin’…

and let’s get this thing goin’… ♩♪

🎶 Dinosaur — 1980 — Habits Old and New

🎶 All in Alabama — 1980 — Habits Old and New

Hope yall have a great weekend…
and don’t be like Hank and go fallin’ off the side of any mountains 😄♩♪

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson | All Rights Reserved

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Hidden Gems from the B-Side — Drivin N Cryin (Week 19)

Fly Me Courageous ♬ Build a Fire

Hey yall… welcome…

Today I got two more from these guys…
both of ‘em take me back…

Back to around ‘98…
weekend nights… guitars plugged in…
just playing for hours…

There was this lady and her husband…
and also a guy named Dennis…
and my best friend Ron on drums…
we’d go all night…

And somewhere in the middle of it all…
between the laughs…
the beer… the whiskey… the weed…
these two songs would find their way in…

I don’t miss the stimulants…
but I sure miss the music…
the friendship…
the memories…

I think about Dennis a lot…
he passed way too young…
great guy… great guitar player…

♬ “Fly Me Courageous” — Fly Me Courageous (1991)

♬ “Build a Fire” — Fly Me Courageous (1991)

So this one’s for you, Dennis…

Rock on, brother… 🎸

That’s Dennis in the background with the black n white guitar…

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson | All rights reserved

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Hidden Gems from the B-Side — Drivin N Cryin (Week 18)

Honeysuckle Blue ♪ Straight To Hell

Ok yall… get ready for greatness.

If you don’t know these awesome dudes yet… you soon will.

I grew up in the same town as them and have seen them live many times over the years. They remain one of my all-time favorite bands — and one of the most underrated to ever come out of the South.

Atlanta’s own Drivin N Cryin formed in 1985 and quickly became one of the South’s most distinctive rock bands, blending Southern rock, folk storytelling, and punk-edge energy into a sound completely their own. Led by singer-songwriter Kevn Kinney, the band built a loyal following through heartfelt lyrics and powerful live performances.

Their 1989 album Mystery Road produced enduring fan favorites like “Honeysuckle Blue” and “Straight to Hell,” two songs that perfectly capture the band’s mix of grit, heart, and Southern storytelling.

Songs Featured

🎶 Honeysuckle Blue — from Mystery Road (1989)

🎶 Straight to Hell — from Mystery Road (1989)

These are two of their more popular songs… later on we’ll dig into the hidden gems.

Hope you enjoy.

The black widow and the
Ladies man
Met down at the laundromat
And tried to make me
Understand ♪

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson | All rights reserved

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Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 9)

Feeling Better 🎶 Tuesday Gone..

For this week’s Hank post I picked two songs from very different moments in his career  “Feelin’ Better” comes from the album The New South (1977), a record that arrived not long after Hank’s near-fatal mountain fall in 1975 and marked the period where he really started breaking away from Nashville’s expectations and forging the Bocephus sound alongside the outlaw movement led by artists like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Ten years later came “Tuesday’s Gone” on the album Wild Streak (1987), a southern-rock-leaning cover of the classic originally recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1973. By that point Hank was in the middle of a huge 80s run where Wild Streak produced multiple country hits like “Young Country,” proving that the rebellious sound he started building in the late 70s had fully taken hold.

Also a cool fact about “Tuesday’s Gone”… it’s one of the first songs I ever learned on guitar back in 1988. I didn’t even know at the time that it was a Skynyrd song — I thought it was a Bocephus original haha. I think it was about a year later when I finally learned the truth. 😁… it’s a beautiful cover..

So let’s get into the music… yall have a great weekend. 🎸

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson. All Rights Reserved.

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Outlaw Roots — The Hank Jr. Legacy (Week 8)

The Blues Man 🎶 O.D.’d In Denver…

Happy Friday, folks!
Got two good ones for you today… 🎸

The Blues Man came out in 1980 on Habits Old and New. it’s one of those lived-in songs.

A little cool info about this one… I’ve told yall before — I play all of Hank’s songs. over the years… this one was probably my most requested. I had an ex-girlfriend once… every time I picked up my guitar, she’d ask for it.. and it wasn’t just her.. friends… people hanging around… same thing. “Play The Blues Man.” just something about it…

Then go back a year to 1979 and Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound… to O.D.’d in Denver… so I got S.I.’d in Denver once.. but never overdosed there… thank God…

Hope yall enjoy these… 🎶🔥

*** Got my info wrong.. Waylon Jennings did not write The Blues Man according to sources.. it was written by Hank Jr… i was for sure it was Hank.. but then saw something online about Waylon and went with it before confirming ***

S.I.’d = snowed in ❄️

I’m not a walk be-hinder. I’m a new note finder 🎶

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson

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OutlawRoots—TheHankJr. Legacy—KidRock Edition(Week7)

Redneck Paradise 🎶 The F Word…

Country music royalty and rock rebel — Hank Jr. and Kid Rock have one of those unlikely but genuinely tight friendships that fans love. They first connected years ago when Kid Rock showed up to one of Hank Jr.’s shows already knowing all his songs, and that mutual respect sparked something real. Over time they became close — so close that Hank Jr. has called Kid Rock like family and even jokingly referred to him as his “rebel son.”

The two have also teamed up musically, most notably on the gritty, fun duet “Redneck Paradise” on Kid Rock’s Rebel Soul album, where their big voices and bigger personalities make for classic Southern rock-country energy.

Outside the studio, they share a love of hunting, fishing, and just hanging out — proving that their friendship goes beyond music into real life brotherhood…

Here’s two songs for you…

🎶 “Redneck Paradise” – Kid Rock (feat. Hank Williams Jr.)
Album: Rebel Soul
Album Released: 2012

🎵 “The ‘F’ Word” – Hank Williams Jr.
Album: The Almeria Club Recordings
Album Released: January 8, 2002

The F Word song does not use the F Word… it’s actually Anti-F Word… so enjoy 😁

Getty Images Credit: Michael Loccisano

© 2026 Bryan Loia Hudson — All Rights Reserved

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