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The Story Behind The Song: “Mind Your Own Business”

hank Jr
(written by Hank Williams)

Hank Williams (#5, 1949)
Jimmy Dean (#35, 1964)
Hank Williams, Jr. (#1, 1986)

“Mind Your Own Business” was the culmination of a long-time goal that Warner Bros. had for Hank Williams, Jr. The label wanted an “event record,” one that would pair him with one or more name performers and create some excitement, simply because of the aggregate name value. When it happened with “Mind Your Own Business, it was strictly an afterthought.

Hank, Jr.’s legendary father had written the song and recorded it at Nashville’s Castle Recording Studio (the city’s only recording facility at the time) on March 1, 1949, three months before his phenomenal June 11th debut on the Grand Ole Opry. Hank, Sr.’s record peaked at #5 on the Billboard country chart later that summer. No one had planned to use the song when Hank, Jr. began work on his “Montana Café” album in 1985, but during one of the sessions he mentioned to producer Jim Ed Norman, “Hey, I kind of like this one. What do you think about this?” and Hank, Jr. tore into “Mind Your Own Business.”

After the entire song was recorded, they all realized that this was the main thing that Hank, Jr. had been trying to veer away from for years: covering his dad’s old songs. He had started his singing career in that fashion as a teenager, and naturally wanted to break free of his iconic father’s shadow and develop his own sound as an artist. Hank, Jr. successfully did that without question, but occasionally he would venture back in time and do one of Hank, Sr.’s classics. He scored big with three of them: “Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” at the very beginning of his career (his first Top Five chart placement in 1964), “Kaw-liga” (#12 in 1980) and his #1 version of “Honky Tonkin’” in 1982. Although the new track of “Mind Your Own Business” sounded good enough, Norman thought it didn’t have the hit-making potential to warrant a single release. It was then that Jim Ed suggested they turn the song into the “event record” that Warner Bros. had been asking for.

Hank, Jr. named some people that he would like to have join him on the record. Two of them were real mind-blowers: Reverend Ike, a black evangelist from New York and rock singer (and personal friend of Hank’s) Tom Petty. The others made more sense: Willie Nelson (who has recorded at one time or another with just about everyone on the planet) and Reba McEntire. Reverend Ike was, needless to say, surprised by the request. He agreed to do the project, but begged off the verse he was assigned about preaching. Instead, Willie took that particular verse, recording it with Norman in Chicago’s Universal Studio. Co-producer Barry Beckett traveled to other parts of the country to record the other special guests: Reverend Ike (at New York’s Atlantic Studios), Reba McEntire (at RMS in Las Vegas) and Tom Petty (at Schnee Studios in North Hollywood).

Beckett says that Reverend Ike was the most fun to work with on the project, being particularly energetic on his lone verse. Barry also loved what Petty did with his part, giving it a “funky” sound, as he put it, and Beckett proclaimed that he had never heard Reba in such high voice. The technicians effectively blended it all together for a seamless five-voice recording of “Mind Your Own Business,” which reached #1 on December 27, 1986 marking Hank Williams, Jr.’s ninth of his ten chart-toppers. It stayed at Billboard’s summit for two weeks and helped propel the “Montana Café” album to gold status. To thank them for their assistance, Hank sent a gold record to each of his four special guests.


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