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Country music fans of a certain age will be familiar with “Bocephus,” Hank Williams Jr.’s nickname and swaggering bluesman alter ego. “My Name Is Bocephus” is a pretty good song, but the story of the name is tragic and practically Oedipal. Williams never really knew his famous father, who before sending himself to death via alcohol and morphine at the age of 29 had nicknamed his little boy “Bocephus” after a ventriloquist’s dummy that featured prominently in a Grand Ole Opry act.
Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent at The Dispatch and is based in Virginia. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he spent 15 years as a writer and editor at National Review, worked as the theater critic at the New Criterion, and had a long career in local newspapers. He is also a writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Kevin is not reporting on the world outside Washington for his Wanderland newsletter, you can find him at the rifle range or reading a book about literally almost anything other than politics.
