HANK 3
''BROTHERS OF THE 4X4, DISC TWO''
OCTOBER 1 2013
89:09
1 /Nearly Gone/8:34
2 /Hurtin for Certin/4:34
3 /Brothers of the 4X4/3:57
4 /Farthest Away/6:06
5 /Held Up/5:04
6 /The Outdoor Plan
Hank Williams III / Eddie Pleasant/4:21
7 /Deep Scars/6:51
8 /Looky Yonder Commin/5:01
9 /Ain't Broken Down/6:27
10 /Overdrive/4:30
11 /Loners 4 Life/7:48
12 /Dread Full Drive/6:44
Tracks By Hank Williams III, Except As Indicated
DISC TWO
1 /Gettin Dim/2:37
2 /Possum in a Tree/2:55
3 /Broken Boogie/7:44
4 /Toothpickin/5:56
All Tracks By Hank Williams III
Billy Contreras /Fiddle
Jay Jackson /Layout
Daniel Mason /Banjo
David McElfresh /Fiddle
Zach Shedd /Standup Bass
Leroy Troy /Claw Hammer Banjo
Hank Williams III /Bass, Claw Hammer Banjo, Drums, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
REVIEW
by Steve Leggett
Hank Williams III, or Hank3, as he seems to prefer it lately, may be the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams, Jr., and therefore part of the royal family of country music, but he's taken to the mantle with a good deal of acrimony. His first taste of being a musician saw him playing drums in punk bands, and when Curb Records signed him to a recording contract in 1996, well, they thought they were getting a country star and Hank3 had other ideas, although he's every bit as country at heart as he wants to be. What followed was a sad soap opera of duels and threats between Williams and Curb for over a dozen years before he was finally free of his contract. Williams then promptly started his own label, and out from under the Curb contract, he set out to establish his creative identity, or identities, plural probably being more accurate. Williams is country, all right, when he wants to be, as this double-disc release shows, although he's not Nashville country, at least not the way Nashville wants its country these days. The ragged, loose energy of this record sounds a bit like Grandpa Jones on meth, and if that sounds like it might be awful, it really isn't, and there's a fun, what-the-hell attitude on this record, stoked by songs like the loose banjo ramble that opens things up, "Nearly Gone"; the blistering hillbilly romp of the title tune, "Brothers of the 4X4"; the woozy "Ain't Broken Down" (which gets a reprise on the second disc as "Broken Boogie"); and the skewed Western swing of "Possum in a Tree." These songs are fun, energetic, and full of backcountry outlaw attitude that makes them poison to the Nashville establishment. That's the way Hank3 wants it, and guess what? Brothers of the 4X4 isn't even Hank3's biggest nose thumb to Nashville, since he released another album the same day as this one, the punk crazy thrash country set A Fiendish Threat, which makes this album sound like Charley Pride. The term maverick was invented for Hank3, and his certainty and attitude make you want to root for him.
BIOGRAPHY
by Johnny Loftus
Shelton Hank Williams III was born December 12, 1972, in Nashville, Tennessee. As the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Jr., he was country music royalty before he ever sang a note. But he didn't immediately follow his forebears musically, choosing instead to bang around the Southeast, playing drums in punk and hardcore combos and smoking prodigious amounts of weed. It was the outlaw spirit of his lineage, alive and unwell and floating in the bong water. By 1996, steep child support payments and his thirst for Mother Nature had forced Hank III onto to the straight and narrow, and he signed a contract with Music City giant Curb. The label issued Three Hanks: Men with Broken Hearts, which brought the voices of all three generations of Williams men together via the ghastly miracles of modern technology. It was about as far from what Hank III wanted as he could get and signaled the beginning of his stormy relationship with Curb.
Williams was in a tight spot. While his name, face, and uncanny vocal resemblance to his grandfather almost guaranteed him a thriving country audience, he had no patience for Nashville's squareness and rigid control. He and his Damn Band could wow a crowd with a spot-on set of gorgeous country balladry and spirited honky tonk. But III could just as easily shift gears into screeching Black Flag-style punk rock with his hard-rocking combo Assjack. He was the kind of anomaly enormous record companies couldn't stand -- eminently marketable, yet defiantly unpredictable.
Curb issued Hank III's proper debut in September 1999. Entitled Risin' Outlaw, it presented 13 rough-hewn country numbers colored by III's honky tonking vocals. And while he played his share of "country" gigs to support it, Williams also appeared at the 2001 Vans Warped Tour alongside punks like Rancid. The irascible III also dismissed Outlaw as a label-controlled fiasco almost immediately after its release. After a few years of touring and trying like mad to be released from his Curb contract, III returned to wax in early 2002 with Lovesick, Broke & Driftin'. While Outlaw had featured material from outside writers, the new LP was all Hank III but for a previously released cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City." He also produced, recorded, and mixed it by his lonesome in just two weeks.
At this point, Hank III's relationship with Curb became even more strained. The label refused to release his appropriately named This Ain't Country LP, which featured songs like "Life of Sin" and "Hellbilly." At the same time, it refused to grant Hank III the rights to issue it on his own. He and the record company reached an impasse, which III only exacerbated with the "F*** Curb" T-shirts he sold through his thriving website. Thrown Out of the Bar, his third honky tonk album, was scheduled for release in 2003, as was the long-awaited This Ain't Country. Additionally, Hank III issued extremely limited-edition releases through his website (often in quantities of 100 or less) and continued to play bass in Superjoint Ritual, the brutal side project of Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo.
The double-disc Straight to Hell was released in March 2006 on Bruc Records (the fledgling rock division of Curb). The first CD contained songs with elements of traditional country warped to fit Hank III's rebel attitude, while the second disc boasted only one song that featured just III, his guitar, ambient noises, and a slight story that those coming down from drugs might enjoy. Ever in the outlaw mode, Hank III released Damn Right, Rebel Proud in 2008. His fourth and supposedly final album for Curb, The Rebel Within, followed in the spring of 2010. And in a move that hardly pleased Hank III, Curb next repackaged This Ain't Country, the oft-bootlegged project that started the acrimony between III and the label in the first place, with additional unreleased material thrown in, as Hillbilly Joker in 2011. Curb managed to get an eighth album out of a lapsed six-album contract by releasing another set of previously unreleased material, Long Gone Daddy (mostly outtakes from 1999's Risin' Outlaw and 2002's Lovesick, Broke & Driftin') in 2012. In October 2013, Hank III released the two-disc country album Brothers of the 4x4, alongside the hardcore cowpunk release A Fiendish Threat.
2 /Hurtin for Certin/4:34
3 /Brothers of the 4X4/3:57
4 /Farthest Away/6:06
5 /Held Up/5:04
6 /The Outdoor Plan
Hank Williams III / Eddie Pleasant/4:21
7 /Deep Scars/6:51
8 /Looky Yonder Commin/5:01
9 /Ain't Broken Down/6:27
10 /Overdrive/4:30
11 /Loners 4 Life/7:48
12 /Dread Full Drive/6:44
Tracks By Hank Williams III, Except As Indicated
DISC TWO
1 /Gettin Dim/2:37
2 /Possum in a Tree/2:55
3 /Broken Boogie/7:44
4 /Toothpickin/5:56
All Tracks By Hank Williams III
Billy Contreras /Fiddle
Jay Jackson /Layout
Daniel Mason /Banjo
David McElfresh /Fiddle
Zach Shedd /Standup Bass
Leroy Troy /Claw Hammer Banjo
Hank Williams III /Bass, Claw Hammer Banjo, Drums, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
REVIEW
by Steve Leggett
Hank Williams III, or Hank3, as he seems to prefer it lately, may be the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams, Jr., and therefore part of the royal family of country music, but he's taken to the mantle with a good deal of acrimony. His first taste of being a musician saw him playing drums in punk bands, and when Curb Records signed him to a recording contract in 1996, well, they thought they were getting a country star and Hank3 had other ideas, although he's every bit as country at heart as he wants to be. What followed was a sad soap opera of duels and threats between Williams and Curb for over a dozen years before he was finally free of his contract. Williams then promptly started his own label, and out from under the Curb contract, he set out to establish his creative identity, or identities, plural probably being more accurate. Williams is country, all right, when he wants to be, as this double-disc release shows, although he's not Nashville country, at least not the way Nashville wants its country these days. The ragged, loose energy of this record sounds a bit like Grandpa Jones on meth, and if that sounds like it might be awful, it really isn't, and there's a fun, what-the-hell attitude on this record, stoked by songs like the loose banjo ramble that opens things up, "Nearly Gone"; the blistering hillbilly romp of the title tune, "Brothers of the 4X4"; the woozy "Ain't Broken Down" (which gets a reprise on the second disc as "Broken Boogie"); and the skewed Western swing of "Possum in a Tree." These songs are fun, energetic, and full of backcountry outlaw attitude that makes them poison to the Nashville establishment. That's the way Hank3 wants it, and guess what? Brothers of the 4X4 isn't even Hank3's biggest nose thumb to Nashville, since he released another album the same day as this one, the punk crazy thrash country set A Fiendish Threat, which makes this album sound like Charley Pride. The term maverick was invented for Hank3, and his certainty and attitude make you want to root for him.
BIOGRAPHY
by Johnny Loftus
Shelton Hank Williams III was born December 12, 1972, in Nashville, Tennessee. As the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Jr., he was country music royalty before he ever sang a note. But he didn't immediately follow his forebears musically, choosing instead to bang around the Southeast, playing drums in punk and hardcore combos and smoking prodigious amounts of weed. It was the outlaw spirit of his lineage, alive and unwell and floating in the bong water. By 1996, steep child support payments and his thirst for Mother Nature had forced Hank III onto to the straight and narrow, and he signed a contract with Music City giant Curb. The label issued Three Hanks: Men with Broken Hearts, which brought the voices of all three generations of Williams men together via the ghastly miracles of modern technology. It was about as far from what Hank III wanted as he could get and signaled the beginning of his stormy relationship with Curb.
Williams was in a tight spot. While his name, face, and uncanny vocal resemblance to his grandfather almost guaranteed him a thriving country audience, he had no patience for Nashville's squareness and rigid control. He and his Damn Band could wow a crowd with a spot-on set of gorgeous country balladry and spirited honky tonk. But III could just as easily shift gears into screeching Black Flag-style punk rock with his hard-rocking combo Assjack. He was the kind of anomaly enormous record companies couldn't stand -- eminently marketable, yet defiantly unpredictable.
Curb issued Hank III's proper debut in September 1999. Entitled Risin' Outlaw, it presented 13 rough-hewn country numbers colored by III's honky tonking vocals. And while he played his share of "country" gigs to support it, Williams also appeared at the 2001 Vans Warped Tour alongside punks like Rancid. The irascible III also dismissed Outlaw as a label-controlled fiasco almost immediately after its release. After a few years of touring and trying like mad to be released from his Curb contract, III returned to wax in early 2002 with Lovesick, Broke & Driftin'. While Outlaw had featured material from outside writers, the new LP was all Hank III but for a previously released cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City." He also produced, recorded, and mixed it by his lonesome in just two weeks.
At this point, Hank III's relationship with Curb became even more strained. The label refused to release his appropriately named This Ain't Country LP, which featured songs like "Life of Sin" and "Hellbilly." At the same time, it refused to grant Hank III the rights to issue it on his own. He and the record company reached an impasse, which III only exacerbated with the "F*** Curb" T-shirts he sold through his thriving website. Thrown Out of the Bar, his third honky tonk album, was scheduled for release in 2003, as was the long-awaited This Ain't Country. Additionally, Hank III issued extremely limited-edition releases through his website (often in quantities of 100 or less) and continued to play bass in Superjoint Ritual, the brutal side project of Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo.
The double-disc Straight to Hell was released in March 2006 on Bruc Records (the fledgling rock division of Curb). The first CD contained songs with elements of traditional country warped to fit Hank III's rebel attitude, while the second disc boasted only one song that featured just III, his guitar, ambient noises, and a slight story that those coming down from drugs might enjoy. Ever in the outlaw mode, Hank III released Damn Right, Rebel Proud in 2008. His fourth and supposedly final album for Curb, The Rebel Within, followed in the spring of 2010. And in a move that hardly pleased Hank III, Curb next repackaged This Ain't Country, the oft-bootlegged project that started the acrimony between III and the label in the first place, with additional unreleased material thrown in, as Hillbilly Joker in 2011. Curb managed to get an eighth album out of a lapsed six-album contract by releasing another set of previously unreleased material, Long Gone Daddy (mostly outtakes from 1999's Risin' Outlaw and 2002's Lovesick, Broke & Driftin') in 2012. In October 2013, Hank III released the two-disc country album Brothers of the 4x4, alongside the hardcore cowpunk release A Fiendish Threat.