In 1976 Waylon Jennings had a hit with “Are You Ready For the Country” and that very same song is out right now, sung by Hank Williams, Jr. and Eric Church.
Eric Church is young, handsome, and a country star. Hank Williams, Jr. is 66 years old, has lived a hard life, and has the distinction of having had a hit in every decade since the 1960’s.
The lyrics are kind of non-sensical, but when Waylon belted them out, who cared, we got caught up in his big, deep, penetrating voice, which neither Hank, Jr. nor Eric Church has. Hank Jr. has always been uber-intense, but he doesn’t have the amped up energy he had 30 years ago, so I did have to ask myself “why re-make this song?” On the other hand, if you liked “Are You Ready For the Country” in that first go around, maybe your comment might be: “why not?”
My observant self senses amped up music promotion, under the guidance of label exec Scott Borchetta, who oversees the red hot label Big Machine and who signed Taylor Swift before anyone had heard her name. He recently signed Hank Williams, Jr. and this is a tried and true way to get a legendary star, who hasn’t had a hit in a long while, some new traction.