Hank Williams Jr. rolls out dates behind 'Essential' best-of

Country legend Hank Williams Jr. will spend most of his summer touring the country behind his recent career overview, "That's How They Do It in Dixie: The Essential Collection."

Williams launched the-late June release with a show at Atlantic City's Taj Mahal casino/resort, and will continue his outing with a July 21 appearance at Six Flags Great Adventure theme park in Jackson, NJ.

The singer will hang around the East Coast for a few shows before heading west for a stretch that includes an Aug. 2 amphitheater appearance in Chula Vista, CA, before finishing things up in the South and Midwest in early September.

"That's How They Do It in Dixie," which hit stores June 27, features 12 of Williams' greatest hits, including "There's a Tear in My Beer" and "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight," immortalized as the "Monday Night Football" theme song. The best-of follows Williams' last album of original material, 2003's "I'm One of You."

Williams has muddled through a year of ups and downs. The singer made his fifth Super Bowl appearance in February, appearing in a filmed introduction for the NFL's championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. The following month, however, two of Williams' daughters, Holly and Hilary, were seriously injured in a traffic accident that occurred while the two women were en route to funeral services for their grandfather, Warren White. Hilary Williams was initially listed in critical condition and continues to recover from injuries suffered in the crash.

In April, Williams surrendered to the Shelby County Sheriff's Department on a warrant issued by a Tennessee court charging him with assaulting a waitress at a Memphis hotel. Williams allegedly choked and verbally abused the waitress. A preliminary hearing on the charges is set for July 27.