Hank Williams Jr.'s iconic song returning to Monday Night Football

[accadacca]

Hank Williams Jr. will be bringing his rowdy friends back to ESPN on Monday nights this fall.

Williams will debut a new version of "All My Rowdy Friends," featuring its "Are you ready for some football?" catchphrase, before the first Monday night game of the season, between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis on Sept. 11.

ESPN pulled the song midseason in 2011, following controversial comments made by Williams on Fox News that compared then-President Barack Obama golfing with then-Rep. House Speaker John Boehner to a meeting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Adolf Hitler. Williams also called Obama and Joe Biden "the enemy."

The original Williams song had been on Monday Night Football broadcasts since 1989.

"I think it's a return to our past in that it's such an iconic song associated with football," ESPN senior vice president of events and studio production Stephanie Druley told The Tennessean. "It was the original. It belongs to Monday Night Football. It really is about returning to what fans know. It's a Monday night party, and that's what we're all hoping to get back to."

The new video was filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday, according to USA Today. Two additional artists also participated in the shoot.

"I hope there will be some happy people on Monday night again," Williams told USA Today. "It feels natural, fulfilling and satisfying at this point when you've kind of done it all."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...night-football