CD Odyssey Disc 275: Hank Williams III

I drove a lot of small trips about town this week, and could've reviewed this album as early as yesterday, but it was fun having it in the car. I also added the "walking with my MP3 player" system to listening to the Odyssey, which will help replace the long car trips I used to have.

Disc 275 is...Damn Right Rebel Proud

Artist: Hank Williams III

Year of Release: 2008

What’s Up With The Cover?: A pretty cool cover - sort of Hank Williams III's coat of arms, if he were to have one. Tattoo art meets the Confederacy? Something like that.

How I Came To Know It: As I noted when I reviewed Hank III back at Disc 200, I found him through an old coworker at Treasury Board Staff. This album is just me buying his latest release.

How It Stacks Up: I judged this album too harshly in my last Hank III review, referring to it as the 'runt of the litter'. I had planned to place it 5th, but I think it is at least the equal of "Risin' Outlaw" so I'll give it a tie for 4th.

Rating: 3 stars.

One thing about a Hank Williams III record, you know what you are going to get. You're going to get some fine country music musicians, playing some serious outlaw country. You're going to get a lot of 'explicit lyrics' and you're going to get Hank III's usual topics back on display.

To recap, these topics are 1) Getting drunk 2) Getting high and 3) Telling People Where to Go. Many songs feature all three.

The best song on the album is firmly in topic #3, "The Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand)" which calls out the Opry as a snobbish, exclusive club that keeps certain musicians out of it simply because they live lifestyles that Nashville elites find embarrassing.

In fact, Hank's grandfather, the legend Hank Williams Sr., was banned from the Grand Ole Opry in 1952 because of his alcohol and drug abuse. This continues to be a sore spot for many true country fans (myself included). The Opry uses his image, but has not reinstated his membership.

As ever, Hank doesn't pull his punches on any topic, calling the Opry's current stance "fuckin' bullshit" and then going on to suggest a few improbable sexual positions Opry members might like to consider

When the album isn't rudely calling out country's most enduring institution, it is ranging between defiant songs about embracing a lifestyle of parties and rebellion and morose tracks where the singer actively considers suicide to escape his life of excess.

Because of this dichotomy, Hank III will at times make you want to shout 'yeehaw' to the world, but before too long he'll make you feel guilty for doing so. He is an artist dedicated to living his art, and then unabashedly acknowledging the terrible price being exacted on his health and soul for so doing. In "Stoned & Alone" he sings: "Will you pick up the gun dear, and put me asleep/'Coz I'm sleepin' on misery and she's cuttin' me real deep".

Hank even steps out of his usual topics, and ends the album with an ode to blue collar workers called "Workin' Man":

"I woke up this mornin', kissed my wife goodbye
I pray to God that I'll make it home safe tonight
It's a dangerous job but I take that risk
I'll trade my blood and sweat just to feed my kids"

Hank III is relatively predictable on "Damn Right Rebel Proud", and there is a tendency to dismiss him as a novelty act. This would be a mistake, and he weaves some heavy themes through his songs. That they are laced with profanity is an honest expression of the world he inhabits - and he lets us inhabit it through his music, albeit from a safe distance.

Best tracks: The Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand), Six Pack of Beer, I Wish I Knew, Candidate for Suicide, Stoned & Alone, Workin' Man