Country music, at its best, conveys complex emotions with simple, forthright lyrics. Love and loss, depression and joy, heartbreak and infatuation, all rendered in a straightforward parlance. Hank Williams Senior, the \hillbilly Shakespeare,"" was the undisputed master of this, ruling the charts in the late 1940s and early 1950s with a series of singles that reflected his turbulent personal life. An alcoholic with intense marriage problems, he penned songs with titles like ""Why Don't You Love Me,"" ""You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave),"" ""A House without Love,"" ""There's a Tear in My Beer"" and ""I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.""
Unfortunately, Hank's hard drinking caught up to him after only six years of recording, and he died on New Years Day, 1953, at age 29. Surviving him, though, are his songs, which still stand up as classics today. Influencing everyone from Bob Dylan to Ryan Adams, his impact on the music world is immeasurable.
Also surviving him are his son and grandson, Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams III. Both country musicians in their own right, Hank 3 hews closer to his grandfather's model. His new album, , reaffirms Hank 3's status near the top of the insurgent country ranks.
Uncannily, Hank 3 looks and sounds exactly like his grandfather. It's all there: the tall lanky physique, the emotive voice and especially the sly delivery. Slightly more nasal than Senior, Hank 3 nonetheless possesses the range and emphasis that his grandpappy had, even occasionally dropping a semi yodel into the mix. He also uses the same type of backing band, utilizing a fiddle, pedal steel and guitar to lay down the twang in ample amounts. Especially noteworthy is veteran steel guitarist Kayton Roberts, who provides the requisite classic Nashville sound more than capably. The result is an album with more country flavor than most everything considered country these days. Hank 3 attacks this new, so-called country sound in the anti-Nashville track ""Trashville.""
Unfortunately, this song also highlights Hank 3's greatest weakness. As a lyricist, he just doesn't possess the sense of import needed to carry a track. On his debut album, , he was content to rely on covers to flesh out the album and the result was a much more consistent endeavor. On , though, he has written every song except a cover of Bruce Springsteen's ""Atlantic City."" He is frequently unoriginal lyrically, content to retread the country clich??s that his grandfather helped create.
On songs like ""Cecil Brown,"" he demonstrates the same familiarity with emotion-inspiring jargon that Hank Sr. did, but other songs fall into unoriginality. In trying to convince the audience that he is truly unhappy, most songs mention either a reliance on whiskey, marijuana or women, or sometimes all three, like in ""Whiskey, Weed and Women."" It's apparent, however, that Hank 3 is a reasonably content young man, without the inner turmoil that propelled his grandfather's songs to greatness. That's not to say that his album is bad'far from it'but most of the time it rings hollow, with no real sentiment behind the twangy guitar.
Hank Jr., on the other hand, gives an exact picture of his personality on his new album, . To his credit, it is easy to see that he's completely comfortable in his niche. Unfortunately, that niche is unerringly stupid, simpleton-friendly country music. Hank Jr. is happy to play the fun-lovin' redneck role, and with songs about well-endowed women (""Big Top Women"") and pork chops (""Last Pork Chop,"" which appears on twice, once acoustic, once electric), he doesn't disappoint.
When he's not attempting to be clever with songs like ""The 'F' Word"" or ""X-Treme Country,"" Hank Jr. plays seriously, writing about deceased Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas in ""Cross on the Highway."" He also has a track called ""America Will Survive."" Wonder what that one's about? Never one for subtlety'it doesn't play well on Monday Night Football'Hank Jr. delivers lines like ""Cause you can't scare us out/you can't make us run/What we got here is freedom and fun."" Absolutely stirring. In an interesting side-note, red-hot young-grass band Nickel Creek provides the backing track on ""Outdoor Lovin' Man,"" a song about how Hank Jr. loves the outdoors. Their pleasant mandolin and fiddle melodies nicely offset Hank's musings about nature, hiking and those awful TV talk shows.
Hank Jr. has a huge fan base, it's true. There are a lot of guys out there who are on the same level as him, but for those who appreciate feeling and musicianship, look to a different generation of Hank.
