Hank Williams Jr. Premieres Video for “Jesus, Won’t You Come By Here” from RICH WHITE HONKY BLUES with CMT
With his highly anticipated album Rich White Honky Blues set for June 17 via Easy Eye Sound, Hank Williams Jr. debuts the closing track of the 12-song collection produced by Dan Auerbach with Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Jesus, Won’t You Come By Here.” The official music video premieres today, May 26, with CMT and CMT.com. With Kenny Brown’s electric guitar, Auerbach on dobro and Bobbie Wood’s churchy piano and organ, the Country Music Hall of Famer sings with a robust conviction that suggests the larger than life amongst us transcend mortal limitations. Directed by Tim Hardiman, the official music video features footage from the recording sessions of Rich White Honky Blues at Nashville’s Easy Eye Sound studio, interspersed with scenes of peaceful small-town living. “My brother Dan, the band and I did our thing in the studio for a few days, and this video gives fans a look behind-the-scenes…in a room together, just playing the blues,” Williams shared with CMT.com. “The other clips were shot in a small town in Mississippi – just perfect for an old southern hymnal. It’s a reminder to slow down and enjoy ourselves.” “This song perfectly encapsulates what it was like to make this record,” adds producer Auerbach. “You can hear us hanging out before we slowly fumble our way into the song. It’s a very raw and real moment in the studio caught on tape.” “Jesus, Won’t You Come by Here” follows the release of “Georgia Women,” as Tennessean shared that with the “cover of blues legend, R.L. Burnside’s 25-year-old classic, Bocephus achieves tapping into the spirit of his father’s iconic teacher Rufus ‘Tee Tot’ Payne, and a century of other blues legends.” Released alongside the announcement of Rich White Honky Blues, album opener “.44 Special Blues” (Williams’ take on Robert Johnson’s “32-20 Blues”) was dubbed by Rolling Stone as “a lonesome, acoustic blues number,” while Consequence shared “the spry solo track digs into the County Music Hall of Famer’s bluesy roots, with its vintage-style refrain, ‘Baby where’d you stay last night,’ pairing perfectly to his well-worn wail.” More than the swaggering singles, roughneck fantasy videos or relentless sense of blue-collar boogie, at his core, the 72-year-old legend is a bluesman. With Rich White Honky Blues, Williams makes good on his legacy with a turpentine and rough wood take on the hill country blues that informed his father’s raw-boned style of putting his pain out there. GRAMMY-winning Producer of the Year Auerbach recorded the set live, with a dozen songs reprising classics from Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Burnside, Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner and a few from Bocephus himself.
