Anytime a Hank III album is supposed to come out I kind of take a wait and see attitude about it. It wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if Mike Curb would have delayed the release by 6 months in the 11th hour just to fuck with Hank. I am happy to say, however, that last Tuesday came and went and the new Hank III, Damn Right, Rebel Proud was actually on the shelves of my local record store without incident.
DRRB continues down the path Straight to Hell started down. Hank’s fierce loyalty to booze, drugs and country music’s old guard. Like on Straight to Hell, Hank did the bulk of the recording and mixing on his own, which leads to more of the grittier, raw feel that made Straight To Hell his best effort to date. With a couple of tracks (”P.F.F.”, “Long Hauls and Close Calls”) you start to see the “metal punk” side of III’s sound start to bubble to the surface. “P.F.F.” is a particularly interesting track since with in it’s 10 minute time segment you get the raucous version I mentioned and a slowed down acoustic country version of it. Personally, I like the slowed down one more. My favorite track of the cd has to be “3 Shades of Black”. It’s an acoustic track featuring III’s road/lifestyle-worn voice complemented by a classic country slide, while the lyrics are the type you’d find on a metal track. To me, it’s the perfect amalgam of what III is.
At this point you know what you’re getting with III. He isn’t trying to push any boundaries, and if you don’t like that I think he’d say something to the point of “Well, go fuck yourself.” I am fine with that, and personally I like what he does. Damn Right, Rebel Proud is out now. It’s raw, it’s explicit, it’s Essential Listening. Check it out.
A true release date for “Damn Right & Rebel Proud” has been decided. This will have an official press release in the VERY near future. Thank you to everyone for your support, but for the time being there is no need to reach out to Curb about “Damn Right & Rebel Proud.”
Rest assured that this new album is well worth the wait. Be ready for a few tracks that have been added to the track listing! It looks like the wind is finally at our backs, we are very excited to get the new record out and be back out there with the fans. This is all very triumphant news for all of us.
As an unapologetic Counting Crows fan I feel obligated to repost some news I saw on Stereogum. The Counting Crows have set a release date of March 25 for their first studio release since 2002’s Hard Candy. It is divided into to parts; rockers (Saturday nights) and acoustic/country tunes (Sunday mornings). They have also made one track from each section available for free download on their official site.
Sticking with the Counting Crows theme, I recently stumbled upon a live recording of The Crows covering Bruce Springsteen’s song, Atlantic City. They do a pretty good job but it really pales in comparison to Hank III’s version…which, personally, I like better than the original.
I was really excited to see this show. There isn’t a III show in the Tampa/St. Pete area that doesn’t find me in attendance, and despite being a fan of their for many years, I had never seen Nashville Pussy. Since both bands were pulling opening slots, I got to Jannus early to ensure I didn’t miss Nashville Pussy. As a result, I was stuck waiting for quite a while…2 1/2 big beers long. Long enough that the wife, whom I had left at home to join me later so I wouldn’t miss Nashville Pussy, even made it in time to see the entire set. Didn’t matter. Having now seen them I can say with certainty that Nashville Pussy can not disappoint. In fact, the only thing about the Nashville Pussy set that was disappointing was it’s brevity. Despite the time limits, Ms. Ruyter Suys and Co. managed to squeeze every single drop of rock from thier time on the stage and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Even my wife, who can take or leave the whole cock rock thing, admitted that it was a rock fist-worthy show.
I was so captivated by the NP show that I did not notice just how crowded it had gotten during their set. In the down time between NP and III I went to get a beer, and Janus was already a sea of bodies from the stage to the entrance to the Tamiami. I got my beer and worked my way up front just in time for Hank III to grace the stage and rock St. Pete with his Honkytonk-meets-Hellbilly set. Two songs into the set, the entire night went to shit. Some 18 pound girl decided she was gonna start running into everything she could manage to. Some dude told me if he did not get his hat (some people behind me took it) back in 10 minutes he was gonna beat me up and that I should tell my boys. I told him I was with my wife, no boys. He said I had 9 minutes. He eventually got his hat, but I was drunk and therefore was planning to punch him on the way out, but the wife, as usual, proved to be a cooler head and pointed out the problems of a 34 year old man getting into scuffles at concerts. Then there was an unrelated fight beside us. Then someone decided they were sick of the 18 pound waterbug girl and threw their drink at her….which hit the wife square in the back. III was awesome…the crowd was absolute crap…and that leads me to this:
Fuck you Tampa/St. Pete Reverend Horton Heat fans. As a collective, y’all suck. It’s like a fucking amateur night at the Apollo with y’all. When you ruined my Legendary ShackShakers show, I should have learned my lesson…but NOOOOOOOOO….I had to give you the benefit of the doubt….I had to go to another show….no more. I’ve learned my lesson. Y’all are a collection of complete fucking idiots. Lemme repeat that. Complete. Fucking. Idiots. The Reverend deserves better.
Last month I posted that the new Hank III album, Damn Right Rebel Proud, had recieved a released date of December 18, 2007. I then went on to say:
Now, if past action is any indicator to future action, this date will get pushed back 10 times before the album actually sees a store shelf. But we can hope Mike keeps his head out of his ass and just let’s the album drop.
Well, I guess that ass is a cozy place cause the cd has been pushed back to “sometime in 2008″. Sometime. In other words, no time soon. On the Cussin’ board Hank III himself said, “There is one thing holding the cd back.Its called Legal issues! Nothing else.” Whatever that means. I say this: Fuck Curb Records.
(EDIT: The album got pushed back….of course. See my post about it here)
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According to Curb, Hank III’s new album, Damn Right Rebel Proud, will be released on December 18. Now, if past action is any indicator to future action, this date will get pushed back 10 times before the album actually sees a store shelf. But we can hope Mike keeps his head out of his ass and just let’s the album drop. Here is the tracklisting:
I was really excited to see this show. There isn’t a III show in the Tampa/St. Pete area that doesn’t find me in attendance, and despite being a fan of their for many years, I had never seen 
I was so captivated by the NP show that I did not notice just how crowded it had gotten during their set. In the down time between NP and III I went to get a beer, and Janus was already a sea of bodies from the stage to the entrance to the Tamiami. I got my beer and worked my way up front just in time for 
