On February 16, 2002, Hank Williams Jr. walked onto the Grand Ole Opry stage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for the first time in more than 20 years.
It wasn’t a comeback tour or an album promotion. Three days earlier, Waylon Jennings had died at the age of 64. Hank Williams Jr. had returned to honor an old friend.
That Saturday night became one of the most memorable tributes in Grand Ole Opry history. And at the center of it was a friendship that had lasted through decades of country music.
Waylon Jennings Was More Than a Fellow Musician
Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr. shared a friendship that went well beyond recording studios and concert stages.
Waylon Jennings had watched Hank Williams Jr. struggle to establish an identity beyond the enormous legacy of Hank Williams Sr. During difficult years, Waylon Jennings took Hank Williams Jr. on the road and offered encouragement.
In a 1988 interview with Spin, Waylon Jennings described Hank Williams Jr. as something like a younger brother.
That relationship also found its way into music. In 1979, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr. recorded “The Conversation,” a song about Hank Williams Sr. The recording later appeared on Waylon Jennings’ 1983 album Waylon and Company.
But another song would eventually become an especially personal part of their story.
The Song That Brought Tears to Waylon’s Eyes
Years before Waylon Jennings died, Hank Williams Jr. wrote a song called “Eyes of Waylon.”
Hank Williams Jr. recalled an encounter with Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter on an airplane that inspired the song. Hank Williams Jr. wanted to capture something about the friend and musician Hank Williams Jr. had admired for so long.
The song appeared on Hank Williams Jr.’s 1995 album Hog Wild.
According to Hank Williams Jr.’s recollection, when Waylon Jennings first heard the song, Waylon Jennings had tears in his eyes.
For fans accustomed to Waylon Jennings’ tough, independent image, that memory revealed a more personal side of the country legend.
Seven years after the album’s release, Hank Williams Jr. would sing that song under very different circumstances.
February 16, 2002: The Night Hank Returned
Waylon Jennings died on February 13, 2002, at home in Chandler, Arizona.
On the following Saturday, the Grand Ole Opry dedicated a special segment to Waylon Jennings at the Ryman Auditorium.
Porter Wagoner helped lead the tribute. Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt joined Hank Williams Jr. for more than an hour of songs and memories.
The musicians performed Waylon Jennings favorites including “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” “I’ve Always Been Crazy,” and “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?”
But there was one particularly noticeable detail onstage.
Four stools had been arranged for the performers. One remained empty in honor of Waylon Jennings.
The February 17 edition of The Tennessean described the empty stool positioned beside Hank Williams Jr.
Then Hank Williams Jr. performed “Eyes of Waylon,” the same song written years earlier for a friend who had once been moved to tears by it.
Waylon Jennings was no longer there to hear the tribute. But the song had a history that everyone close to the friendship could understand.
A Friendship Stronger Than Twenty Years of Absence
Hank Williams Jr. had stayed away from the Grand Ole Opry for roughly two decades, partly because of earlier disagreements with the institution.
Yet Hank Williams Jr. returned when the occasion was honoring Waylon Jennings.
Later in 2002, when recalling that night, Hank Williams Jr. described the loss of Waylon Jennings in unusually personal terms:
“And boy, it was a sad night as I honored my brother, Waylon Jennings.”
The evening also brought Hank Williams Jr. back into a place that had been absent from the singer’s performing life for years. But for the people remembering Waylon Jennings, the greater significance was the friendship behind that return.
Waylon Jennings had spent a career making music on independent terms, refusing to let Nashville determine every part of the sound. That same independent spirit had helped shape the generation of musicians gathered at the Ryman that night.
Hank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart, Travis Tritt, and Porter Wagoner honored Waylon Jennings with songs, memories, and one empty stool.
And after more than 20 years away from the Opry, Hank Williams Jr. had returned to sing for the friend once described as a brother.