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Hank Williams Jr.’s daughter, Hank Sr.’s granddaughter makes foray into music business

By Janis Fontaine

Holly Williams has a great pedigree — granddaughter of Hank Williams, daughter of Hank Jr. — but she’s trying to find her own path in country music. (AP)

It’s common practice in country music to sing about family, and Holly Williams’ debut country album does that.

But when you’re Hank Williams Jr.’s daughter and the granddaughter of the legendary Hank Sr., that adds another layer to your music.

That’s not why you should hear Here With Me (Mercury), though. Sure, you’ll get some insight into growing up as the daughter and granddaughter of icons, but you’ll also get great songwriting.

Williams was torn, initially, about announcing her lineage right out of the box.

“When I first toured, I didn’t say, ‘I’m Hank Jr.’s daughter.’ I wanted people to respect my music for what it was, to listen to the music with a fresh ear, not expecting something.”

On the mournful ballads, Williams’ warm voice cracks and quakes with emotion. On songs like “He’s Making A Fool Out of You”, there’s a reedy edge that cuts through the instrumentation.

Williams is poised to make her mark on country radio, but her first single, “Keep the Change” — one of the only songs she didn’t write — stalled without cracking the Top 40. She just released “Mama” as her second single; it debuted at No. 55 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

The song was inspired by her parents’ divorce. Williams’ mom, Becky, who was Hank Jr.’s second wife, was married to him from 1977-1983. They had two daughters: Hilary, born in 1979, and Holly, born 1981.

Since this is country music, you’d guess that it was a cheating song, or maybe a drinking song. It’s not. Consider the lyrics:

You could’ve been bitter, you could’ve hated him
You could’ve talked about the whiskey and the women
He could’ve done better but you loved him anyhow
Then you taught us all the power of forgiveness
Mama, you were smilin’ when you could’ve been cryin’ all night
Mama, you made me believe everythin’ was all right
Mama, you never wore your pain too thick
I’d like to thank you for this

“So many moms and dads put the kids in the middle and neither one of them did that,” Williams says of her family. “He never talked bad about her, although he wouldn’t have a reason to. He had so much respect for her, and he’d say, ‘The reason you and your sister turned out the way you did was because you had such a great mom.’ When he wasn’t around, she would just say, ‘He’ll be home soon.’ She always wanted to keep the relationship going. That was really important to her.”

These days, Williams’ relationship with her father is close.

“His reputation is the wild Bocephus party guy and he definitely has that side of him, but he’s a great dad and has a great heart, and just is a good caretaker.”

And Hank, who never had a day-to-day hand in raising his older daughters, finds himself raising a teenage daughter, Holly’s half-sister Katharine. Those trials inspired Williams to write “Let Her Go”, a lovely ballad.

“I wrote that about my little sister and my dad’s relationship,” Williams said. “He has a 16-year-old daughter and it’s his first foray into raising a teenager. When we were teenagers, he was touring so much, he wasn’t really involved in the ins and outs of boyfriends and cellphones and curfews and all that. So like any other dad he’s having a hard time but he’s doing a great job. She’s turned out to be really good.”

The chorus of the song is:

Let her go, let her fall, let her fly,
She wants to touch the world with her own hands,
let her go, let her love and let her cry,
If you trust her soon you both will understand,
she’ll come back home if you let her go.

“It’s just a little thing to say to dads,” says Williams. “If you don’t let them have their own experiences they’re going to rebel and probably go crazy. My mom was great about letting me be my own person. And the glass is half full all the time. My mother taught me that, and I always try to live by it.”