Hank Williams III - "If The Shoe Fits, Wear It"

  

  Hank Williams III - "If The Shoe Fits, Wear It"

In country music the surname Williams is the mark of legacy and dynasty. The father, the son, and now the grandson have made a serious mark on the country music industry, including its repertoire and audience.

Shelton Hank Williams was born on December 12, 1972 in Nashville, Tennessee and is widely referred to as Hank III or Hank 3. Being the grandson of legendary Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams Jr. living up to his famous forebears names isn't easy but Hank III has thus far succeeded in being recognized as a table turning rebel to the mainstream country music establishment.

Hank Williams Senior (born Hiram Hank Williams) is known by critics as one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. Few names in America hold such triumph and tragedy as the country music icon from Alabama who was not only the sole performer to receive six encores at the Grand Ole Opry, but also banned from it. He died tragically at the age of 29 from a drug and alcohol overdose in the back seat of his car on New Years Day, 1953.

The heir to Hank Senior’s musical throne Hank Williams Jr. (born Randall Hank Williams) did not please his fathers audience. Although groomed at an early age to sing in his fathers likeness, Bocephus (an inherited nickname from Hank Sr.) departed from expectations by embracing America’s 1960?s counter-culture and blending country music with rock n’ roll. He was subsequently barred from mainstream country radio and considered sacrilegious to purist country fans. His radical style of living included blatant use of drugs and alcohol, and his cutting edge songs earned him a loyal following, eventually leading him to the unofficial title Superstar of Southern rock.

And then came “Hellbilly” Hank Williams III, bearing a ghostly resembleance to his grandfather looks and both Hank Sr. and Jr.’s rebellious attitude. A true rebel to the core, a nuisance to his label, and ammunition for negative media, Hank III is the blackest sheep in a family of outcasts.

                                                       Hank III - Interview & Songs

Performing is all Hank III has really known. He started out playing with his dad on-stage when he was just ten years old and hasn't stopped since. Being the son of a superstar and the grandson of a legend, Hank III was country music royalty before he even started playing music. However, instead of hopping on the country music band wagon that was the Williams lineage at first, he alternatively grew a liking for hardcore and punk music. He spent much of his early years playing drums in punk rock bands around the Southeast, a musical leaning of his that has become undeniably noticeable in his more current musical career.

Hank III listened to his grandfather’s music as a child but also got into musicians like KISS, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, and AC/DC growing up without a father, who left home when he was four years old. Before Hank ever started playing country music he played and toured in a variety of alternative genre bands around the Southeast which included; playing drums in the punk group Buzzkill, playing bass in Whipping Post, playing guitar in Salada, a death metal group named Shroud, and local Nashville band Rift. Hank was very angsty and let his colors show through screaming his head off and thrashing his drum kit as hard and fast as he could. He didn’t start to listen to country music in a singer/songwriter’s context until his early 20’s. Hank was good at expressing anger and chaos in his music, which are certainly elements seen in country music, but he had never tried to tap into melodies that might touch a person’s soul and make them cry and in fact he had never really intended to be a country musician anyway. However, a surprise paternity suit, the result of a one-night stand with a vice cop's daughter, forced his hand. When a judge ordered him to pay $27,000 in back alimony, it was time to put on the cowboy hat and start croonin’. It took this lawsuit and an expensive weed smoking habit to get Hank to give up his $50-gig punk life and record his long anticipated entrance into the country music industry with Curb Records. Three Hanks: Men With Broken Hearts was issued shortly thereafter, which brought the voices of all three generations of Williams men together. While this may seem to be a nice beginning, it was quite different from what Hank III himself desired musically. Despite having been born in Nashville, Tennessee, Hank III has never had a preference for mainstream country. Being an eclectic and flexible musician, Hank did well as an artist signed to a major label, making himself stand out and away the cookie-cutter format of the country music mainstream, all the while gaining a wider audience through publicity. The aggressive urgency and intensity comes through clearly on the hard swing of  "If The Shoe Fits".

                                                   Hank Williams III - If The Shoe Fits

While his name (and his uncanny vocal and physical resemblances to his grandfather) could have guaranteed him a thriving country audience, he had no patience for the often predictable Nashville sound, nor for even the minimal constraints on behavior his promoters required. His opinions on this subject are well summed up in the songs "Trashville" and "Dick in Dixie".

                                                     Hank Williams III - Dick In Dixie

His first album on his own, titled Risin' Outlaw, was released in September 1999. Lovesick, Broke & Driftin' was released in 2002. "Risin' Outlaw" is the slogan tatooed to Hank III's arm and it's an apt description of his current rising career. Hank had a great deal of trouble with his label Curb Records, with incidents as extreme as their unwillingness to either release his appropriately named This Ain't Country LP, nor allow him to issue it alone, and his selling of "F*** Curb" T-shirts. Battles with Walmart had delayed the release of his third studio album, titled Straight To Hell, which will be released on Feburary 28th as a two-disc in two formats: a clean version (for Wal-Mart), and an uncensored version, which will be the first country album to bear a parental advisory sticker on the cover.

What makes Hank so unique, though, is his ability to convey his grandfather's mournful twang on such chilling evocations as his autobiographical "On My Own" and Wayne Hancock's "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs" and "87 Southbound." Hank's own music returns to the themes of fellow outlaws like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe, Johnny Paycheck, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, all artists who were, at one time or another, snubbed by the mainstream industry.

                                                    Hank Williams III - 87 Southbound

Indeed, Hank Williams III's current fans range from tatooed, pierced teens and twentysomethings more prone to body-surfing than line-dancing to blue-haired ladies and 60-something gents eager to hear the lad with the eerie resemblance to Hank Williams sing his grandfather's songs, like "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." This is because his songs touch on the eternal verities of country-blues as it does his own hard-living past and present: treacherous women, dancing with the devil, dalliances with drugs and booze, the loneliness of the road, the Lord and redemption. It's just too bad the country music kingmakers don't recognize him as one of their own. Hank had this to say about certain audiences over others; “I'm sick of headlining these little redneck, honky tonk dives where they play disco music before you go on and you have to put up with people who don't even like country music, but curse you and ask why you can't play something they can dance to. And then stare at us like we're a bunch of freaks. Rock audiences aren't rude like that. The best place for us to play is in the cities. No one seems to want to hear country music out in the country, but in the city, people are starved for it."

Hank III has criticized the musical directions of his father, and instead frequently references his grandfather and other such veteran country musicians. Self-described as "hellbilly" music, Williams' style is difficult to classify concisely, but has been described as traditional country, 'hard-twang', cowpunk, psychobilly, outlaw country, altcountry, and 'honky punk'. Lyrically, he often sings about running from the law, smoking cannabis, contempt for modern country, alcoholism, depression, and heartbreak, alternating between sombre and menacing themes. Hank III plays country with his "damn band" and produces a rather different sound with Assjack, which is a metalcore/psychobilly band. He is also the Bass guitarist in Superjoint Ritual, with former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo. Superjoint Ritual has since disbanded but III is still working with Anselmo on one of his many side-projects. A number of "sub-sub-genres" have been coined describing his original sound, such as hard-twang, slacker swing, hellbilly, and honky punk.

                                                         Assjack - Tennessee Driver

Passed down through three generations of country music the name Hank Williams, depending on who you ask, could either arouse delight or disgust. The music of the Williams lineage has and continues to push conventional boundaries and stir controversy. Whether being banned from the Grand Ole Opry, barred from mainstream country radio, or prohibited from selling CDs at Wal-Mart, the uncommon family thread runs deep.

Works Cited

"Hank Williams Biography." CMT: Country Music Television. N.p., 18 Oct. 2009. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/hank_iii/bio.jhtml>.

Kim, Grim. "Hank Williams III: The MetalSucks Interview." MetalSucks. N.p., 14 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. <http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/03/14/hank-williams-iii-the-metalsucks-interview/>.

Peterson, Kyle. "Hank Williams III Carves His Notch on Family Tree." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 12 Aug. 2007. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/12/us-hankwilliams-idUSN1020664820070812>.

Silver, Glenn Burn. "Hank Williams III Rips the Rulebook to Shreds." Phoenix NewTimes. N.p., 09 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. <http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2012-08-09/music/hank-williams-iii-rips-the-rulebook-to-shreds/2/>.