Hank III

Add Date: May 4

Artist: Hank III

Album: Rebel Within

Label: Sidewalk/Curb

Genre: Country

Comments: Much has been said about the demise and downfall of country music. Fortunately, though, like most styles of music, what's played on commercial radio is irrelevant to the art of the form. As you know if you've spun country and folk tunes on WLUR before, there's plenty of good stuff out there: music that either adheres to traditional country, or takes it and moves it in positive directions. This genre is often called "alt-country," which seems to me to be a misnomer, but that's an argument for another day and time.

For all of his well-decorated lineage, Hank III (that's Shelton Hank Williams III, grandson of one of the originators of country) has managed to fly just below the radar as a pillar of this movement. Part of that is his penchant for hardcore punk; I'm not sure if this is still the case, but years ago Hank III's live shows would feature a set of country tunes and a set of no-holds-barred punk. Yet when Hank III sets out to make country, it's music that Hank Sr. would surely identify with and take pride in.

Rebel Within is a prime example of that: 11 tunes of honky tonk that, aside from modern production values, could have been recorded decades ago. They're tragic, yet upbeat, songs about drinking, drugs and dying, fronted by Hank III's hereditary yelp. Start with "Gettin' Drunk and Fallin' Down," "Drinkin' Ain't Hard to Do" and "Lookin' for a Mountain."