Music Legend Hank Williams Jr. to Headline Great Jones County Fair

It's not very often that a bonafide legend comes to perform in your area. When it happens, and the legend is Hank Williams Jr., you can count on a big ole party. And the man who will take the stage first has plenty of hits of his own.

Hank Williams Jr. is one of those rare artists that everyone knows. Part of only three father-son combinations that both became members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, his road to stardom was not an easy one.

Bocephus, as his father nicknamed him, was born just a month before Hank Williams Sr. made his Grand Ole Opry debut. Three and a half years later, his father passed away. When Hank Jr. was only 11, he appeared on that same famous stage for the first time. He had his first hit song when he was just 14.

In his mid-20s, Hank Jr. fell down a Montana mountain. Badly injured and his face disfigured, he grew a beard. And it wasn't long before his career began to take off.

Hank Jr. spent 22 years as the voice behind the Monday Night Football theme. He had 10 country songs hit number one and charted more than 100 times. The only others to have more chart singles in their careers is a who's who of country music history: Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and George Strait.

A man whose chart success covered more than a half-century, Hank Jr. was named Entertainer of the Year five times. Not only is he a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, but he's also been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Hank Jr. is also one of just 14 people in country music history to receive a BMI Icon award for his "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers".

As you can probably tell, I think this show in Monticello is going to be a very special night. One to cherish. And I haven't even gotten to Hank's special guest.

Tracy Byrd will be first on the stage. His portion of the concert will feature a decade of big hits from the early 90s to the 2000s, and likely some line-dancing as well. I'm telling you right now there will be plenty of people in the crowd who will do the Watermelon Crawl, a Byrd hit from 1994. Tracy has reached the Top 5 on the country charts 10 times in his career, with three songs (Watermelon Crawl, The Keeper of the Stars, 10 Rounds with Jose Cuervo) reaching number one.

Hank Williams Jr. and Tracy Byrd combine for what should be a tremendous Throwback Thursday concert at the Great Jones County Fair on July 21. Tickets go on sale on Thursday, December 9. The special KHAK presale will be from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, December 8. We'll be sending out all the presale information on the afternoon of December 7. To get that, simply download the free 98.1 KHAK app and turn on Concert/Event Alerts. Complete details on the show are available here.

I'll see you in Jones County on July 21. Now, let's jam to some of their tunes.