3 Hank Williams Covers by Three Outlaws of Country: Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings (1960-2021)

Waylon Jennings once called Hank Williams (1923-1953) an “outlaw hero,” and someone he measured himself against as an artist. “If I had an outlaw hero,” said Jennings, “someone to set my standard and measure my progress, it was Hank Williams.” In 1975, Jennings also paid homage to his hero with “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” which topped the Country chart and questioned the future of country music.

Willie Nelson felt the same about Williams, who died at the age of 29 on January 1, 1953. “Nobody wrote any better songs than Hank,” said Nelson. “It was a simplicity, a melody, and a line that anybody could understand. He didn’t get deep; he kept it straight down the middle.”

He added, “Knowing Hank, he could have done anything he wanted to—a great entertainer, a great writer, a good singer that nobody could compete with him.”

Right from the start on his 1957 debut, Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar, Cash covered Williams’ 1951 hit “(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle,” then again with “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” on his fifth album Now, There Was a Song!, and went on to cover many more Williams classics.

All three outlaws of country covered their hero, Williams, for more than six decades. Here’s a look behind some of the songs that they took on from the 1960s through early 2020s.

Videos by American Songwriter

‘Sings Hank Williams’ (1960)

Just seven years after Hank Williams’ death, Johnny Cash paid tribute to the country legend with four covers. Sings Hank Williams features some of Cash’s originals and a cover of Leon Payne’s “I Love You Because,” along with his renditions of Williams’ “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You),” “You Win Again,” “Hey, Good Lookin’,” and “I Could Never Be Ashamed of You.” An expanded edition also features Cash’s takes on “Cold, Cold Heart” and “(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle.”

‘Ol’ Waylon Sings Ol’ Hank’ (1992)

In 1992, Waylon Jennings covered 12 of Williams’ songs on Ol’ Waylon Sings Ol’ Hank, including “Jambalaya (On The Bayou),” “Hey Good Lookin’,” “Honky Tonkin’,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Half As Much,” “Blues Come Around,” “Why Should We Try Anymore,” “Be Careful of Stones That You Throw,” “I Won’t Be Home No More,” “Mansion On The Hill,” “Cold Cold Heart,” and “They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me.”

“I Saw the Light” (2021)

Willie Nelson has covered Williams’ “Move It On Over,” “Mind Your Own Business,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Mansion on the Hill,” “Why Don’t You Love Me,” and more throughout the decades. Fifty years after first covering Williams’ “I Saw the Light” on his 1971 album Willie Nelson and Family, Nelson rerecorded the song with his family on The Willie Nelson Family, released in 2021.

Photo: Rob Verhorst/Redferns