''Strong Stuff'' is the thirty-fifth studio album by American musician

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

It was released by Elektra/ Curb Records in February 1983. "Gonna Go Huntin' Tonight" and "Leave Them Boys Alone" were released as singles. The album peaked at number 7 on the '' Billboard''

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart and has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

Music

The music of ''Strong Stuff'' is predominantly

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar specula ...

, such as the cover of

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sou ...

's John Lee Hooker-esque song " La Grange".

Critical reception

While he praised the closing cut ("In this stately ballad about a lover's struggle with drugs, Hank's baritone coos, breaks, and flutters like a wounded butterfly as spare accompaniment by piano, harmonica and guitar pushes but never intrudes"), Lee Ballinger of ''Record'' gave the album an overall negative review. He was especially critical of "A Whole Lot of Hank", describing it as "a recitation of unconnected cliches ... carried bumpily along by a plodding instrumental track". He found some of the other songs overly similar to "A Whole Lot of Hank", and referred to "Leave Them Boys Alone" as "the obligatory song about other Southern musicians".

Track listing

Personnel

*Kenny Bell – acoustic guitar * David Briggs – keyboards *Paul Hatfield – keyboards * David Hungate –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

– vocals on "Leave Them Boys Alone" *

Terry McMillan Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States. Early life McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...

– harmonica *Kenny Mims –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

*Farrell Morris –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Larry Muhoberac Lawrence Gordon "Larry" Muhoberac, Jr.; (February 12, 1937 - December 4, 2016, in Erina, New South Wales, Australia) was an American musician, record producer, and composer who was also known under pseudonyms "Larry Owens" and "Larry Gordon". ...

– keyboards *Weldon Myrick – steel guitar *

Steve Nathan Steven Jay Nathan is an American keyboardist. He is known for his session work in Muscle Shoals and Nashville studios. Biography Nathan was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. In 1977, Nathan moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After touring w ...

– keyboards *

Brent Rowan Brent Rowan (born May 28, 1956 in Waxahachie, Texas) is an American session musician and record producer who works primarily in country music. Active since the 1970s, Rowan began working with John Conlee through the recommendation of record produce ...

– electric guitar *Gove Scrivenor – autoharp *

Randy Scruggs Randy Lynn Scruggs (August 3, 1953 – April 17, 2018) was an American music producer, songwriter and guitarist. He had his first recording at the age of 13. He won four Grammy Awards and was named Musician of the Year at the Country Music ...

– dobro, acoustic guitar *Denis Solee –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, " Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), ...

– vocals on "Leave Them Boys Alone" *Wayne Turner – electric guitar *

Billy Joe Walker Jr. Billy Joe Walker Jr. (February 29, 1952 – July 25, 2017) was an American songwriter, record producer and recording artist. He composed singles for Eddie Rabbitt, including " I Wanna Dance with You", " That's Why I Fell in Love with You" and " ...

– acoustic guitar *

– dobro, acoustic guitar, keyboards, lead vocals * Reggie Young – electric guitar

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 1983 albums Hank Williams Jr. albums Elektra Records albums Curb Records albums Albums produced by Jimmy Bowen