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a14 people & arts
Tuesday 21 June 2022
Hank Jr. unleashes Thunderhead Hawkins on bawdy blues record

By KRISTIN M. HALL boisterousness and brash- one has worked extremely
AP Entertainment Writer ness, especially in his later well.”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — years. He’s not quiet about Williams added his own off-
Sometimes it’s hard to tell his conservative political the-cuff lyrical riffs to the
who Hank Williams Jr. really beliefs, likes singing about songs, including sometimes
is behind the dark sunglass- God, guns and the South. crude remarks about wom-
es and the beard covering His comments once cost en as the band snickers in
facial scars. him the “Monday Night the background.
How much of him is a perso- Football” intro spot. “We say a few dirty words.
na — or a stage presence His new record continues Several dirty words,” Wil-
— is further complicated to mythologize the ma- liams said with a smile. “This
by the fact that Williams cho boogie-woogie man, is Thunderhead Hawkins,
takes on multiple identi- even as he has reached his south Alabama, Mississippi
ties, whether it’s Bocephus 70s. The album is a sexual- juke joint. And that’s exact-
or Thunderhead Hawkins, ized romp through X-rated ly how it sounds and how it
who is the centerpiece on Hank Williams Jr. poses in a recording studio on June 6, 2022, in blues material by Robert feels.”
his latest album. Sometimes Nashville, Tenn., to promote his new album “Rich White Honky Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, But for all the bravado that
he talks about himself in the Blues,” under his alter ego Thunderhead Hawkins. R.L. Burnside and Muddy Williams displays, he can’t
third person as if he’s re- Associated Press Waters, as well as Williams’ escape his own heartbreak
viewing a movie of his life. part of his musical DNA. Grand Ole Opry. Never will own original tunes. Record- as his family continues to
“I’m a Gemini,” said Wil- His father learned to play be. Period. And I’ve done ed at Dan Auerbach’s Easy endure tragedy.
liams, referencing the as- guitar in Alabama from a pretty good.” Eye Studio in Nashville, the Williams’ eldest daugh-
trological sign that is repre- Black bluesman named Williams moved away from session musicians include ter Kate died in a car ac-
sented by twins as a way of Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne, but the traditional country electric slide guitarist Ken- cident at age 27 in 2020,
explaining who he is. his parents were running a that his father was known ny Brown, bassist Eric Dea- just months before it was
Williams has often defied boarding house and had for and started merging ton, drummer Kinney Kim- announced he would be
easy characterizations. He few resources. genres — Delta blues, hard brough and Auerbach on inducted into the Country
is the son of an icon, the “They don’t have money to rock, country, soul — along- guitar. Music Hall of Fame. Then his
elder Hank Williams, whose give him, but they did have side bands like the Marshall “We understood each oth- wife, Mary Jane Thomas,
tragic death left him at a food for the guitar lessons,” Tucker Band and Lynyrd er pretty quick,” said Wil- whom he married in 1990,
young age with a legacy to said Williams of Payne. Skynyrd. liams. “I got over there with died in March after a medi-
both uphold and expand After his father’s death at His No. 1 hits include “A Kenny and them and Dan, cal emergency at a Florida
upon. After surviving a near age 29, Williams Jr. was ex- Country Boy Can Survive,” and it was just like pouring spa.
fatal fall off a mountain in pected at an early age to “Family Tradition” and “All water out of a cup. It went The last track on the album
1975, Williams took his own follow in his footsteps. By My Rowdy Friends Are Co- pretty smooth and we “Jesus Won’t You Come
rowdy blue-collar Southern the time he was 8, he was min’ Over Tonight,” which knocked it out in two and a By Here,” the only religious
rock sound to new heights, performing his late father’s later became the opening half days.” Ken Levitan, Wil- song on the record and
changing the sound of songs on stage, but on the theme song for “Monday liams’ longtime manager, penned by Lightnin’ Hop-
country music. car rides home, he was lis- Night Football.” He’s been said Auerbach, a Gram- kins, was a song Williams
His new record, “Rich White tening to blues by the likes named entertainer of the my-winning producer and loved for decades. After all
Honky Blues,” his first album of Bobby Blue Bland and year multiple times by the one half of the rock duo the debaucherous blues,
since 2016, gives more in- late-night broadcasts of Country Music Associa- The Black Keys, was just the he sings, “Jesus, won’t you
sight into the Country Music WLAC, a Nashville-based tion and the Academy of right fit for Williams, drawn come by here/Down on
Hall of Famer’s early years radio station that played Country Music and won a together because of their my knees to pray,” like a
and the influences that rhythm and blues.”I’m not Grammy for best country knowledge of the blues. sinner on Sunday.
would eventually make him listening to the Grand Ole vocal collaboration. “There are matches that He can’t bring himself to
a singular artist. Opry,” said Williams. “Nev- But he also has become just work very, very well,” sing the song live now fol-
Blues has always been a er been a member of the headline fodder for his Levitan said. “And this lowing his wife’s death. q

Malaysia: Disney refused to cut gay

scenes in ‘Lightyear’

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia aspects of the Guidelines male character voiced by
(AP) — Malaysia’s film cen- on the Film Censorship” actress Uzo Aduba briefly
sors said Friday that it was were ordered to “be cut kissing her female partner in
Disney’s decision to ax the and muted,” the board one scene in the $200 mil-
animated film “Lightyear” said in a statement. lion film.
from the country’s cinemas “However, the film distribu- Authorities across much
after refusing to cut scenes tors did not agree to com- of the Muslim world have
promoting homosexuality. ply with the instructions” barred “Lightyear” from
The Film Censorship Board and decided instead to being played at cinemas
said it approved the mov- cancel the screening, the because it includes a brief
ie with parental guidance board said, adding that kiss between a lesbian Character Buzz Lightyear stands near the entrance to the Aliens
for those under 13 on the it would not compromise couple. Many Muslims con- Swirling Saucers ride at Toy Story Land in Disney's Hollywood
condition of modifications. on any LGBTQ scenes. The sider gays and lesbians to Studios at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., June 23,
Scenes and dialogues that statement did not specify be sinful and many Muslim- 2018.
it “found to contain ele- which scenes violated cen- majority nations criminalize Associated Press
ments promoting the LGBT sorship guidelines. same-sex relationships. The announced it would ban from showing in movie the-
lifestyle which violate key “Lightyear” includes a fe- United Arab Emirates also the Pixar animated feature aters because of the kiss.q