Jun. 09, 2010 - Issue #764: Hot Summer Guide 2010
Prevue
Like the old men
Hank's sure the Hanks done it this way
If you're a third-generation anything, be it a shipbuilder or musician, you've got to acknowledge destiny as part of life's script. You can embrace it, working off a bloodline's momentum, or use fate as a framework to rail against.In the case of Hank Williams III, he's quite honoured to acknowledge his pedigree one moment, rebelling the next. So it is fitting that the metal-western crooner has released the countrified Rebel Within, and has a few choice words when asked about his prolificacy upon the release of his sixth studio record.
"That's the way it's supposed to be normally. I've been with a record company for years that didn't want to put out my music, period. If you look at how many records I have out at my age right now, and you look at how many records [Hank III's father] Hank Jr had out at his age, he probably had out 40, and I've got out five or six. I've been having my creative freedom held back for years, and soon I'll finally be able to put out records and not have to worry about going through four lawyers in this pissing match, making it complicated when it's not."
Recorded and self-produced over two weeks at his home in Nashville, Rebel Within follows on the heel of 2009's Assjack with the metal/punk outfit of the same name. Asked about the seeming about-face between metal and country, Williams is able to discern between two with the ease and merit of someone steeped in both traditions.
"Assjack was written around a guitar riff, just a guitar in your hand and playing along with it, whereas the country stuff is more written around the vocal," he offers. "Country music is always more about putting a story out there, for the working man. ... The lyrical content is a little bit of good, a little bit of bad: you got your standard country songs like 'Drinkin' Ain't Hard to Do' or you got your rebel songs like 'Let's Party.'"
That's not to say Hank III has been warmly welcomed by the country music scene his family helped found. "I wont be shaping country music too much, 'cause I don't get accepted by the country scene," he throws back. "But I can't tell you how many people out there come out to a show saying they hate country music, and then they see us and tell me I helped them cross that bridge.
"I see kids in Pantera and Slayer T-shirts that love country music. And then there's average looking guys who can't stand all the cookie-cutter pop-country-rock songs that ain't really cuttin' it. So the way we make a difference is in our live show: people see that we give the longest show for the cheapest ticket, that we stick around after every show and say hello to the fans—that's the country way: you do your show, you say hello and it makes them feel part of what you do." V vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
Privacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.