Hank Williams Jr., Old Crow Medicine Show to play in Tuscaloosa this spring

In what's the first announced concert for the 2023 Tuscaloosa Amphitheater season, Hank Williams Jr. will play the venue May 12, with Old Crow Medicine Show opening the 7 p.m. performance.

The son of the country music legend — Hank Jr. was 3 years old when Hiram King "Hank" Williams, the one who nicknamed his son "Bocephus," died of heart failure Jan. 1, 1953 — was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, but in the '70s moved to Alabama , where his parents had been born. He had inherited his father's tendencies, struggling with drugs and alcohol, and sought roots while he got cleaned up.

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Though he never shied from the legacy, Bocephus drove his own sound into rock and blues. Even when covering his dad's songs, he'd stomp backbeat into them, as with his primal cover of "Kaw-Liga." In the 1964 biopic "Your Cheatin' Heart," Hank Jr. dubbed the singing voice for George Hamilton, who played young Hank.

He got his own film, the 1983 TV movie "Living Proof: The Hank Williams, Jr. Story," chronicling his struggles, including a near-fatal 1975 mountain-climbing accident in Montana. Just as he'd begun to break through with his album "Hank Williams Jr. and Friends," he suffered a fall of almost 500 feet onto rock, fracturing multiple bones in his face and skull. During two years of recovery, undergoing multiple surgeries, and therapy to relearn how to talk and sing, he adopted the now-familiar beard, hat and sunglasses look, to help hide his scars.

He's been a frequent visitor to Tuscaloosa, including a 1983 Bama Blast concert in Bryant-Denny Stadium, a rarity given the University of Alabama's stewardship of hallowed ground. The late Jerry Lee Lewis opened that night. The only other Bama Blast had been the previous year, with the band Alabama. Hank Jr. also played UA's 2008 homecoming concert, but in Coleman Coliseum, and played the amphitheater in April 2012 with opener 38 Special.

Williams had visited Tuscaloosa the year before, touring areas left devastated by the April 27, 2011, tornadoes. He helped organize benefit shows to aid the state's recovery needs. He last played the amphitheater in 2019.

His hits include“A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Texas Women,” “Eleven Roses,” “Dixie on My Mind,” “Born to Boogie,” “Young Country,” “I’m For Love,” “Old Habits,” “If Heaven Ain’t a Lot Like Dixie,” “Family Tradition" and “Heaven Can’t Be Found." Hank Jr. ha' also charted with covers of his dad's songs, including “Kaw-Liga,” “Honky Tonkin’,” “There’s a Tear in My Beer,” “Move It On Over,” “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” and “Mind Your Own Business.” His children Hank Williams III, Holly Williams, Hilary Williams and Sam Williams, and his grandson Coleman Williams — son of Hank III — are all musicians.

Old Crow Medicine Show

Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show gelled as street musicians in Boone, North Carolina, but after connecting with bluegrass legend Doc Watson in 2000, raised their profile, and relocated to Nashville. The group plays old-time folk-country music with punk edge, in the vein of their fellow North Carolinians the Avett Brothers, and other revivalists. Their song "Wagon Wheel," co-written by band member Ketch Secor, building on an old demo by Bob Dylan, is responsible for countless cover bands playing it at every frat party and bar in existence since its 2013 inception.

The band won the 2014 Grammy for Best Folk Album for its "Remedy." Several Old Crow Medicine Show studio and live albums have reached No. 1 on US Bluegrass charts, including the 2018 "Volunteer" and the 2019 "Live at the Ryman." The group's most recent studio disc is 2022's "Paint This Town."

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, through www.ticketmaster.com, and at the amphitheater box office, 2710 Jack Warner Parkway. They'll be $99.75, $79.75, $59.75, and $35, plus fees. For more, see www.tuscaloosaamphitheater.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Hank Jr., Old Crow Medicine Show to play at Tuscaloosa Amphitheater