All My Rowdy Friends: Best of Hank Jr

Editors’ Notes Whether you’re an ardent fan or just looking for a good place to become acquainted with the outlaw twang-rock of Hank Williams Jr., this 2012 compilation is a must-have. It appropriately opens with “Family Tradition,” where Jr. stakes his claim in country while divorcing himself from his father's strict honky tonk traditions. Of course this could only be followed up with “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound,” a slower tune that muses on hard drinking and fast living over twangy pedal steel notes, a rootsy fiddle solo, and some sharp Telecaster picking. You can hear some of that slick early-'80s production seeping in by “Old Habits,” where Jr.’s now-unvarnished voice provides a gritty contrast as he sings mournfully of the vices he had to give up in order to stay alive and healthy. In a haunting rendition of “There's a Tear in My Beer,” he duets with his late father via 1989 studio magic.