Shelton Hank Williams III doesn't quite make country music. He makes country music performed under the influence of Satan. Ironically enough, this diabolic musician also happens to be the descendant of one of country's most influential artists.
Williams, the grandson of Hank Williams, recently released "Straight To Hell," a two-CD set of honky-tonk consisting of fiddle, string bass, electric and steel guitars and forlorn lyrics established by the original Hank Williams. The only difference is the fact that the music is skewed by undertones of drugs, sin and evil.
Hank III has a voice and musical style like his grandfather. However, the lyrics and themes of the two relatives, and not to mention Hank Williams, Jr., are much more distant.
The musician does a good job of producing a very twisted environment in his music. When mixed with the traditional honky-tonk country, it makes the style even more eerie.
Song titles include, "Satan Is Real/Straight To Hell," and "Pills I Took," and his lyrics are in a similar vein.
"I think I'd rather eat the barrel of a double-barrel loaded shotgun/ Than hear that sh** they call pop country music on 98.1," sings Williams in "Not Everybody Likes Us."
The first disc in the album is a standard 12-song medley. It's the kind of music you'd hear played on a front porch in southern hell. The second has two songs, "Louisiana Stripes," and an untitled track that is 42 minutes long.
The untitled track drifts dissonantly between songs recorded poorly and sound clips. For two minutes, the only sound on the recording is of a train coming and then passing nearby. The recording continues for another two minutes with occasional overlapping of the inverted sound of the passing train.
"Straight to Hell" puts a new perspective on both country music and wickedness, and does an excellent job of it.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
