Hank Williams III

Shelton Hank Williams(born December 12, 1972), known asHank Williams III,is an American musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical style ranges fromcountry musictopunk rockandheavy metal.He was the drummer ofhardcore punkbandArson Anthemand bassist ofPhil Anselmo's bandSuperjoint Ritual.He has released eleven studio albums, including five forCurb Records.

Hank Williams III
Williams performing atRoskilde Festival2012
Background information
Birth name	Shelton Hank Williams
Also known as	Hank 3
Born	(1972-12-12)December 12, 1972 Nashville, Tennessee,U.S
Genres	Outlaw country cowpunk alt-country heavy metal psychobilly
Occupations	Musician singer
Instruments	Vocals guitar bass drums keyboards mandolin banjo
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Hank3 Megaforce Curb
Member of	Assjack The Damn Band
Formerly of	Arson Anthem Superjoint Ritual

Williams is the grandson ofHank Williamsand the son ofHank Williams Jr.He is also the nephew ofJett Williams,the half-brother ofHolly Williams,and the father ofColeman Williams.

Career

Early career

Williams spent much of his early career playing drums inpunk rockbands during the late 1980s and early-to-mid-1990s. During this time frame, Williams was informed that he had fathered a son,Coleman Finchum,who was five years old by that time; a family court judge ordered Williams to find more stable employment so that Finchum could receivechild support.

Williams later played bass guitar in theheavy metalband Superjoint Ritual, now renamed asSuperjointfor legal reasons, led byPanteravocalistPhil Anselmo.Williams also played drums forArson Anthem,formed with Anselmo andMike Williamsof thesludge metalbandEyehategod.

Recordings for Curb Records (1996–2010)

Capitalizing on his family name and resemblance to his grandfather, he signed a contract withNashvillemusic industry giantCurb Records.Three Hanks: Men with Broken Heartswas issued shortly thereafter, which spliced together recordings to make it seem that three generations of Williams men were singing alongside one another. In the late 1980s, upon first meeting Hank Williams III,Minnie Pearl,a friend of the late Hank Williams Sr., reportedly said "Lord, honey, you're a ghost", as she was astonished by his striking resemblance to his grandfather.

The success of the "Three Hanks" album garnered Hank Jr. and Hank III a Vocal Duo of the Year nomination by theAcademy of Country Musicin 1997.

Williams' first solo album,Risin' Outlaw,was released in September 1999 to respectable sales and strong reviews, despite Williams's own hatred of the record.

In 2003, Williams recordedThis Ain't Countryfor Curb, who chose not to release it. On May 17, 2011, Curb released the album under the titleHillbilly Joker,without the consent or input from Williams after his contract with the label had been terminated.

In 2006, after resolving a contractual dispute withCurb Records,Williams releasedStraight to Hellon Curb's rock imprint, Bruc. Battles withWalmartdelayed the appearance of this album, which was released on February 28, 2006, as a two-disc set in two formats: a censored version (for Wal-Mart), and an uncensored version that was the first major-label country album ever to bear aparental advisorywarning.Straight to Hellwas also the first release through Curb'sBruc Recordsimprint. However, the uncensored version was released through Bruc, and the clean version was released through Curb. One of the songs, "Pills I Took", was written by a little-known Wisconsin group calledThose Poor Bastards,who originally released the song on their 2004 CDCountry Bullshit.

Williams releasedAssjack'sself-titled debut albumon August 4, 2009, through Curb.

His next album,Rebel Within,was released in May 2010, and was his last album with Curb Records.It charted at number 20 inBillboardmagazine.

Between 2012 and 2017, Curb would release a series of unauthorized compilations of Williams' music. In 2012, Curb released a Williams album titledLong Gone Daddy,marking the second album the company has released under his name since his departure. In 2014, Curb Records released a new album under Hank Williams III's name titledRamblin' Man.The album contains previously unreleased material that Williams recorded while on their label. The following year, Curb released another Williams album of previously unreleased songs titledTake as Needed for Pain.The album is mostly a rock album but the single released was a country song titled "Ruby Get Back to the Hills". In 2017, Curb released aGreatest Hitsalbum featuring select tracks from Williams' first four albums, mostly fromStraight to Hell.

Independent releases (2011–2014)

Williams in 2010

Williams released four new CDs in September 2011.Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town(a 2-disc country record with some ambient and folk influences),3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin'(a metal record in the newly anointed cattle core genre) andAttention Deficit Domination(a doom-rock record), were released under his label Hank3 Records throughMegaforce Records,and featured guest appearances byTom Waits,Les Claypool(Primus), Alan King (Hellstomper), Ray Lawrence Jr., Troy Medlin (Sourvein), Dave Sherman (Earthride) and Williams' dog, Trooper.

In 2013, Williams two new albums: a country albumBrothers of the 4×4and punk albumA Fiendish Threat,under the band name "3".

In 2018, Williams was featured onDevilDriver's cover of his song "Country Heroes", which appears on their albumOutlaws 'til the End: Vol. 1.In 2021, he released a cover of the David Allan Coe song "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" on his YouTube channel.

Musical style

Williams' lyrical themes include drug use, hedonism and the outlaw life, as well as criticism of the mainstream country music industry.

His live shows typically follow aJekyll and Hydeformat: a country music set featuring fiddle player David McElfresh and steel guitar player Dan Johnson, followed by a "hellbilly" set ofcowpunkandpsychobillysongs, and then anAssjackset, which consists ofdeath metalandmetalcoresongs.

The lineup for Assjack includes the addition of supplemental vocalist Gary Lindsey and the departure of his fiddle and steel guitar players. McElfresh's predecessor was fellow-fiddle-player Michael "Fiddleboy" McCanless, who would play all three sets, adding traditional violin for the country set of the concert before turning on different effect pedals for later sets. Another former band member was guitaristDuane Denison,previously withThe Jesus Lizard,who left The Damn Band and Assjack in January 2001 and later that year formedTomahawk.

Discography

Main article:Hank Williams III discography

Studio albums

• Risin' Outlaw(1999)
• Lovesick, Broke and Driftin'(2002)
• Straight to Hell(2006)
• Damn Right, Rebel Proud(2008)
• Rebel Within(2010)
• Hillbilly Joker(2011)
• Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town(Hank3 Records, 2011)
• 3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin'(Hank3 Records, 2011)
• Attention Deficit Domination(Hank3 Records, 2011)
• Brothers of the 4×4(Hank3 Records, 2013)
• A Fiendish Threat(Hank3 Records, 2013)

External links

• Official website
• Official Facebook
• Hank Williams IIIatAllMusic
• Hank Williams IIIatIMDb