The Jimmy Bowen/Hank Williams Jr. team kicked up the tension a couple of notches on 1979's Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound. Since Nash Vegas didn't seem to give a damn one way or the other, the pair leaned on the rockin' side of country even harder. Utilizing Waylon and cats like James Burton, David Briggs, Larry Londin, Buddy Spicher, Kieran Kane, Reggie Young, and the Muscle Shoals Horns, they took the outlaw boogie into the stratosphere. From the first four tracks, Hank Jr. feels like he's auditioning to be a member of Black Oak Arkansas or Molly Hatchet on the outside and the Allmans, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Marshall Tucker on the inside. The title song is one of those moody Southern rock ballads that feels like it may explode at any time. "Tired of Bein' Johnny B. Goode" is a redneck call to arms, "Outlaw Women" has been sung by every motorcycle club from coast to coast since 1979, and "I Don't Have Any More Love Songs" is one of the finer divorce songs written during that decade. But it's a divorce song of remorse and regret, not bitterness or clever one-upmanship. It's honest, true, and painful. Williams is not one to wallow and his disappointments come right back with a slash-and-burn cover of the nugget "White Lightnin'," most closely associated with George "Thumper" Jones. And before allowing all that good-time fun to go to waste, Williams and band weigh in with one of his most notorious macho outlaw tomes, "Women I've Never Had." It's sexist as hell, and Hank wanted it that way. It's an in-your-face to political correctness and feminism. The set cooks up to here and after, and the track feels out of place on the album, though it is exceptionally well-crafted as a song. It's easy to see why he complained later that it wasn't a single, though he is out of his mind for doing so. "OD'd in Denver" is its own dark reward and the band digs into the groove deep and greasy. The album closes with three covers, the most notable and soulful of which is Gregg Allman's "Come and Go Blues," which is not played by the band so much as attacked, and Williams' vocal does Allman's example proud. Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound is the mother of Williams Jr.'s outlaw records and it rocks harder than anything in his catalog.

HANK WILLIAMS JR.
WHISKEY BENT AND HELL BOUND
(Elektra 6E-237)
November/1979
Produced by Jimmy Bowen

Reggie Young, James Burton - guitar
Sonny Garrish - steel
Joe Osborne - bass
Larry Londin - drums/percussion
David Briggs, Larry Knechtel - keyboards
Buddy Spicher - viola
Kieran Kane - mandolin
Rock Killough - harmonica/guitar
John Gore, Jim Horn, Irving Kane, Terry Mead - horns
Recorded:
Wishbone Studio, Muscle Shoals
Glaser Sound Studios, Nashville

1.
WHISKEY BENT AND HELL BOUND
(Hank Williams Jr)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

I've got a good woman at home who thinks I do no wrong
But sometimes Lord she just ain't always around
And you know that's when I fall I can't help myself at all
And I get whiskey bent and hell bound
Play me some songs about a ramblin' man put a cold one in my hand
Cause you know I love to hear those guitar sounds
Don't you play I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry cause I'll get all balled up inside
And I'll get whiskey bent and hell bound
[ fiddle - steel ]
Sure enough about closing time about stoned out of my mind
And I end up with some honky tonk special I found
Just as sure as the morning sun comes thinking of my sweet girl at home
And I need to get whiskey bent and hell bound
Play me some songs about a ramblin' man put old Jim Beam in my hand
Cause you know I still love to get drunk and hear country sounds
But don't you play Your Cheatin' Heart that'll tear me all apart
I'll get whiskey bent and hell bound
Yeah old Hank's songs always make me feel low down
**********
2.
TIRED OF BEING JOHNNY B. GOODE
(Hank Williams Jr)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

**********
3.
OUTLAW WOMEN
(Hank Williams Jr)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

She works in a bank and she works in a store
And she don't go bout old stuff anymore
She likes to get high and listen the band
She likes to make love to her kind of man
These outlaw women first of the kind outlaw women they got you right on time
Outlaw women don't need any guns outlaw women just out of fun

In many ways she's a lot like me she don't give a damn bout society
Might be little rich girl she might be poor
Might be a married woman that needs a little more
Yeah she's a outlaw woman first of the kind
These outlaw women ridin' high in seventy-nine
These outlaw women don't need any guns these outlaw women just out of fun
**********
4.
I DON'T HAVE ANYMORE LOVE SONGS
(Hank Williams Jr)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

There's been some things that I wanted to say a long time
Never have I spent a day without you on my mind
And I've tried a lotta songs and I need to try one that's new
But I don't have anymore love songs to try on you
You just can't ever get it together it seems
Your arms don't hold me the way that they do in my dreams
And it's hard to make up the things that you never do
And I don't have anymore love songs to make up bout you
I don't have anymore love songs to write for you
Too many I wrote before have never come true
And it's hard to make up the things that you won't do
And I don't have anymore love songs to sing for you
And it's hard to make up the things that you won't do
And I don't have anymore love songs to sing for you
**********
5.
WHITE LIGHTNING
(J.P. Richardson)
« © '58 Fort Knox Music, BMI / Trio Music, BMI /
Glad Music, BMI / Pappy Daily Music, BMI »

**********
6.
WOMEN I'VE NEVER HAD
(Hank Williams Jr)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

I like to play good music and have good time
I love to hear old trains rolling down the line
I am into happy and I don't like sad and I like to have women I never had
I take a little smoke and a lot of wine I get high on all old friends of mine
I like the sweet young things and Old Grandad and I like to have women I've never had
[ dixieland ]
I like to ride my hoses and shoot my gun you know a cowboy's work is just never done
I am in to bacics and I don't like sad and I like to have women I never had
Hey I don't mean to ever do nobody no wrong
I was just born the son of a singing song
I do things to make people mad and I like women I never had
**********
7.
O.D.'D IN DENVER
(Hank Williams Jr)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

We started the tour out in Denver Colorado
I made the first one but I did not make the second show
Cause I met this girl there that brought about quite a big change
But I OD'd in Denver and I just can't remember her name
I guess you could say that my love life would not up to part
Too many alone had left some permanence scars
She told me she'd love me and I told her I'd do the same
Then I OD'd in Denver and I just can't remember her name
I brought it on myself and I guess that I shouldn't complain
Doc said son you can't do anymore about cocaine
But she made me higher than all of those expensive things
But I OD'd in Denver and wish I could remember her name

I turned to other things tryin' to make my daydreams real
But they don't take the place of the woman's face and her feels
She treated me nice and I like to find her again
But I OD'd in Denver and I just can't remember her name
I brought it on myself...
I overdid it in Denver and I just can't remember her name
**********
8.
COME AND GO BLUES
(Gregg Allman)
« © '79 Unichappell Music, BMI »

People say you're no good I couldn't cut to loose babe if I could
Well I seen this thing down on the ground
Baby I'm too far gone to start turnin' around
Well if only you make up your mind
Take me where you go or just leave me here to pine
Lord you got those come and go blues woman you got those come and go blues
Got me feeling like a fool just like a fool
Round and round round to go
Don't ask me why I stay here cause I do know
Maybe I'm a fool to care baby without your sweet love I would be nowhere
Here I'll stay lost in your will until that day I find someone else
But I don't know just when that will be
I don't know I can't say and I can't see
Lord you got those come and go blues woman you got those come and go blues
Got me feeling like a fool just like a fool
**********
9.
OLD NASHVILLE COWBOYS
(Arthur Killough - Billy E. McClelland)
« © '79 Tree Publishing, BMI »

The old Nashville cowboy was burdened with time
He was bent by his years and the fight with the wine
With a head full of music and an old nursery rhyme
A heart full of sadness and dark sunken nights
He told me they've cheated he told me they stole
The strenght from his youth and the songs from his soul
He said he raised family till he got too old
And he called them miners mother Lord finders
Digging so deep in search of more gold
Oh where are the cowboys and the home on the range
Does anyone know that they've killed Jesse James
Now the good guys on TV seem bad ain't it strange
And the old Nashville cowboys missed out on the change

The old cowboy's life now is gone with the past
Like whiskey he drank it all went out too fast
He didn't know how to make each swallow last
And a head waitress won't be back to fill up his glass
Oh where are the cowboys and the home on the range
Does anyone know that they've killed Jesse James
Is anyone listening or is everyone blind
And old Nashville cowboys will sing for a dime
And hard times are cheap at the end of the line
**********
10.
CONVERSATION
((Hank Williams Jr - Waylon Jennings - Richie Albright)
« © '79 Bocephus Music, BMI »

[ with Waylon Jennings ]

Hank let's talk about your daddy tell me how your mama loved that man
Well just break out a bottle hoss I'll tell you bout the driftin' cowboy band
We won't talk about the habits just the music and the man
Now Hank if you just got to tell me did your daddy really write all them songs
That don't deserve no answer hoss let's light up and just move along
Do you think he wrote 'em about your mama or about the man who done her wrong
Well back then they called him crazy now a days they call him a saint
Now the ones that called him Lord crazy still ridin' on his name
Well if he was here right now Bocephus
Would he think that we were right do you think he might
Don't you know he would walk tall sir be right by our side
If we left for a show in Provo he'd be the first one on the bus and ready to ride
Wherever he is I hope he's happy and I hope he's doin' well yes I do
He is cause he's got one arm around my mama
How he sure did love Miss Audrey and raisin' hell
Guess I've asked you too many questions to the stories only Hank could tell
Well back then they called him crazy now a days they call him a saint
Most folks don't know that they fired him from the Opry
And that caused him the greatest pain
I loved to tell you about lovesick and how Miss Audrey loved that man
You know I've always loved to listen
To the stories about the driftin' cowboy band
You know when we get right down ti it still the most wanted outlaws in the land
**********