Hank Williams III Album: “Risin' Outlaw”

This album is the epitome of honkytonk country. I have been waiting damn near all my life for this album. Many have tried but none have come this close to the real thing. I can listen to this for days and not get tired of it. It may not be for everyone but this is as good as it gets for the genre. His father may have left a few things to be desired but Hank III picks up right where his grandfather left off and brings a modern edge to this music. If I could rate this as six stars I would. A classic in music almost forgotten.

I agree with pretty much everything everyone's already said in these reviews. This is an excellent album that, sadly, will never be played on Country radio nowadays. My only complaint (and the thing that's keeping it from a 5 star rating) is that Hank III at times sounds so much like Wayne "The Train" Hancock that it's scary! Admittedly, Mr. Hancock has borrowed heavily from Hank Sr., as has the latter's grandson. Hancock is also starting to get much more heavily into Texas Swing music on his own 3rd CD. Hank III's album eerily recreates the sound of WH's first 2 albums here, although he does just plain flat out rock more of the two (and uses a drummer full-time - something Hancock does not). Ultimately, the voices of these two sound very similar - and the comparisons will NOT be unaided by the fact that Hank III does 3 Hancock songs on this debut CD, plus thanks WH in the liner notes. Hell - I like 'em both!

You wouldn't know it to listen to what passes for country radio these days, but real country music -- the no-compromise, gut-wrenching, alcohol- and heartbreak-soaked stuff -- is coming back, thanks in good part to a new generation of committed artists. Hank Williams III's debut record is a joy from beginning to end: raw, spare, and moving in the fashion of the finest classic honkytonk. Hank III doesn't even hesitate to revive the often-ridiculed lachrymose country heart song, and if "On My Own"doesn't bring a tear to your eye, check your pulse. Mostly, though, this is tough-minded stuff, tales of ramblin', excess, loneliness, antisocial behavior, life lived on the edge and close to the bone. From the evidence of this disc, Hank III gives us good reason to believe that he has his grandfather's gift. "Blue Devil"is the one attempt to reproduce a pure Hank Williams sound, including tinny 78-era sound quality (for another example, listen to Steve Earle's "The Other Side of Town" on his El Corazon CD). This is country music like they used to, though far too raucous and ornery to sound at all as if it's been brought back from the dead or hauled out of the museum.

Go buy Hank III. If your reading this review, then you're close enough! This CD is soo what country needs right now, and that's good old fashioned honky-tonking twang(with a fresh new raw, edgy touch throw in; check out "I Don't Know", "Lonesome For You" & "You're The Reason). Hank III hits all the right traditional areas on this CD... He borrows from the best of both Pa and Grandpa, and evolves with his own touch and style on top of that.(AND he sounds and looks like his Gramps) Sure he only wrote a few of the songs on this CD(I'm sure there's more to come!) but that's more than any other country artist these days.

Risin Outlaw is a great 1st album, and it's the best country CD in 10 years, apart from Hank Jr's latest, Stormy. Hank III has inherited his grandpa's and his dad's musical genius, and he looks and sounds exactly like his granddad, and that's cool. And like his dad, Hank III is country and likes to rock a little. This is a great mixture of country and punk rock, and in a song like "If the Shoe Fits" and "What Did Love Ever Do to You?" and "Cocaine Blues," that raw punk energy is there behind the country melody! "On My Own" and "Why Don't You Leave Me Alone?" sound very much like Hank Sr, and in the former Hank III can really moan and yodel like his grandfather, and I love that! And "If the Shoe Fits" has a chorus that I can really relate to: "If the shoe fits, wear it, and if the truth hurts, bear it....It's a hard road to choose, bein' good and payin' dues, but that's the kind of life I'm living and I plan on livin' long." Hank Sr would be proud as hell of his talented grandson.