One of Kelly Clarkson's most recent "Kellyoke" covers came from a veritable country music legend. Last week, the Emmy-award winning daytime talk show host took some time out to deliver her rendition of Hank Williams Jr.'s iconic "Family Tradition." And it probably goes without saying, but Clarkson knocked it out of the park.
Taking to her famous Kellyoke stage with her band Y'all, Clarkson belted out the familiar chorus, which typically gets everyone out of their seats and singing along: "Hank, why do you drink? Hank, why do you roll smoke? Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?"
She couldn't help but smile as she got to the song's namesake: "So if I get stoned, I'm just carrying on / An old family tradition."
The song was penned by Hank Williams Jr. and released in May 1979. It acted as the final single from his 29th studio album of the same name. It's a fun, raucous tune, the type the musician has done so well over the course of his career. It's one of his most popular songs, in fact, and it's managed to sell over a million digital copies.
In terms of Clarkson's decision to sing it on this particular edition of Kellyoke, you never know just quite what you'll hear as part of the segment. Clarkson has a wide range of musical tastes and inspirations, and she's sung songs like Lizzo's "Good As Hell" and even Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees".
In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Clarkson explained how she selects the songs that she sings as part of Kellyoke.
"What people don't realize is you have to get them approved by the writers, and so people keep asking me, why won't you cover this artist? It's not that I don't want to. It's just that sometimes people don't approve their songs," the singer explained.
"Maybe they just don't want to do it because they don't like doing that, or maybe it's going toward another project and they don't want to give it away,"she said. When Lopez and Hoover asked if it was about having the permission to perform said songs, "It's more about clearance," Clarkson said at the time.
What's next on the Kellyoke jukebox? We'll have to wait and see, but first we'll have to get this absolute banger out of our heads.
