Hank III is a pretty fearless mofo. He's not scared of cops, he's not scared of jail, he's not scared to let the world know that he gobbles LSD and smokes copious amounts of ganja. There's definitely a sense that he's not afraid to die.

So what the hell frightens this devil lovin', hard partyin' scion of country godheads Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr.?

"AIDS, for one," Williams said from a tour stop in Lansing, Mich. "I'm afraid of the day my kid tracks me down. I'm afraid of not going to family funerals -- how people's going to feel about that or, you know . . . That's pretty touchy shit, and some people might get really upset about it."

He continued: "The most scared I've ever been in my life ... is getting charged by a fuckin grizzly bear up in Kodiak, Alaska. And the dude is like, 'Ah, it's all right. We'll make it run off.' By the time it got within 25 feet of us, I couldn't keep it together. I'm scared shitless, man. And it charged us, and he yelled at it, and it stopped and waved her paws and her and her cubs just ran off. That's the most scared I've ever been, and it felt like I was robbing a bank. It was that kind of rush you have. It's like, 'Oh, fuck, man.'"

"That's the biggest rush I've had," he said.

AIDS, estranged children, grizzly bears - those are reasonable things to fear. But Hank refuses to be cowed by record company politics. He ain't askeered of those Music Row suits who would love nothing more than to dress him up like his granddaddy and cash those fat novelty-act checks.

He has a really low tolerance for bullshit, and that's been one of the challenges for him, trying to make his way through this industry that's nothing but bullshit. After years of foreplay and blueballs, newly launched Curb Records subsidiary BRUC released Hank III's Straight To Hell in February after two bitter years of lawsuits and delays (during which time Hank launched the infamous "Fuck Curb" campaign).

"I'm not trying to achieve nothing, I'm just making a record and trying to capture what we do a little bit," Hank said. "Our live shows are live shows, and that'll never be captured on record. But I think this record does represent us a little better, as far as the rawness to a point, the attitude to a point."

He had to fight to put the record out uncensored with a parental advisory sticker - a first among major-label country records (although there is a clean version available at Wal-Mart). "Even though it's not every other word, we're cussing. I just wanted it to be there."

Hank produced the album himself on a cheapo Korg D-1600. And not only did Curb take umbrage with the content, the label also wanted him to trim the record's length. "They only wanted 10 songs, I was able to fit almost 20 on it," Hank said. "I've been fighting that record company for a long time, and finally getting maybe 2 percent of respect from them, so it's a lot better than it was."

The first disc in the two-disc set showcases Hank and his Damn Band blazing through his trademark punk-tinged antisocial country. These are the songs he's honed through relentless touring of divey punk rock bars. He's here to put the dick in Dixie and the cunt back in Country, he sings with gusto. The second disc is a challenging stoner sound collage that features the lonesome sounds of trains swirling around covers of songs by Hank Williams Sr. and Cheech and Chong.

It's pretty raw and honest material. But sometimes people in this country seem to be more interested to buy the fake bullshit than they do the real thing - Amerian Idol-ized Motown and the genre Hank refers to as "pop country" (which he says with such disdain it sounds like the dirtiest cuss word he knows).

So it's no surprise to hear Hank's disdain for the likes of fake country imposter No. 1, i.e. Kid Rock. Hank takes aim at Mr. Ritchie in the song "Not Everybody Likes Us," when he sings "Just so you know, so it's set in stone, Kid Rock don't come from where I come from. Yeah, it's true, he's a Yank, he ain't no son of Hank. If you even thought so, goddamn, you're fucking dumb."

Hank said: "It's not even that much of a dis, it's just letting people know. You'd be surprised how many times I have to say, 'No, he is not my brother, he is not related to our family,' and that's all. A personal thing is a personal thing. He stuck his nose in family business a long time ago. That's his call."

At the Lansing show, the crowd was filled with God-haters, Vargas girls gone wrong, skinheads, tattooed rednecks, goateed college students and straight-shootin' country fans. It's a high-energy crowd that sings along every word to every song. You get the sense that these are Hank's people, and that he isn't interested in success on a larger scale.

"We're doing what we do. I talk a lot of shit, and I can understand why we're blackballed, or a black sheep, and that's fine. And the best bluegrassers, you'll never hear of them, the best blues artists. It's just the sake of you loving what you do. And if you get some acceptance, that's cool, and if not, you're still going to be doing what you do."

-Brian J. Bowe
July 2006