Customer Reviews

Lovesick Broke & Driftin'

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I will keep this short and sweet. If you want your country music like it was in the good old days, then buy this album. Hank III channels his grandfather. Probably the finest country album I have heard in ages. I'll say it again, BUY THIS ALBUM!

I bought HANK 3'S debut album in 1999 when it first came out and for 3 long, loooong years I had to wait for his sophomore effort "LOVESICK BROKE & DRIFTIN... 3 WORDS: WORTH THE WAIT! I knew after the first song that HANK III had hit the nail on the head. THERE IS NOT ONE DUD ON THIS ALBUM. EVERY TRACK DELIVERS. While country radio is playing bubble gum, watered down, country pop artists, HANK WILLIAMS III is bringing country that's REAL AND RAW AND DOESN'T CARE WHOSE FEET IT STEPS ON. If you love Hank SR., I will give you a money-back guarantee that you will love his grandson just the same. IF YOU ARE NOT A HANK SR. FAN... SEEK THERAPY. If you do buy this album, LISTEN FOR THE HIDDEN TRACK AT THE END OF THE ALBUM. Also listen for track 4: LOVIN' & HUGGIN'; If that song doesn't make your feet itch, well, seek therapy. NEEDLESS TO SAY THIS ALBUM COMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FROM THIS "REAL" COUNTRY FAN!!!

How anyone who listens to current country music radio can call themselves a fan of country music is beyond me. This is the real thing and you will never hear this on mainstream radio. Why? Because it's too country for country radio which pretty much is just crappy light rock with fiddles and steel guitars these days. Hank III is the reason I don't discredit the genre altogether. This CD is awesome, that's all you need to know.

Hank III does sound like his famous grandfather, but at the same time he has a very unique delivery and knows how to tell a story in a song. The songs on this CD range from mellow, old-timey numbers like the title track, "Atlantic City", "One Horse Town" and "5 Shots of Whiskey" to the rollicking good time "Nighttime Ramblin' Man" (which has some incredible instrumental work!). My favorite songs are "Cecil Brown" with its great bass, the angst-filled "Walkin' With Sorrow" and "Trashville" is also a standout as a f-you kind of song. Hank III does it his way and can never be accused of hiding behind his name.

I like country music. Let me rephrase that. I like REAL country music. Forget the Shania Twains and Rascal Flatts out there. I don't like country watered down with pop influences. I like the hard core honky tonk old school country music. That's Hank III, and he carries on a fine tradition started a long time ago by his grandfather.

A bit of a departure from his first CD (which was good in it's own right), Hank III pens all but one tune on this CD, and his talent truly shows. Not only that, he has the absolutely amazing sounds of Mr. Kayton Roberts on steel guitar, a man who has played with many country music legends. I think he's playing for a future legend on this album.

You probably won't hear Hank III on mainstream country music radio, but if you want to hear the real deal, pick up this CD. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Hopefully he is the herald of what 21st century country holds in store for us.

In the mid-1970's a young genius from New Jersey named Bruce Springsteen stood up against the onslaught of disco and almost single-handedly kept rock & roll music alive. The final knock-out blow was then delivered by the punks (and one helluva bonfire in Chicago's Comiskey Park).

Ironically, it is a young fan of punk rock who now stands alone against the BULL...being churned out these days under the name of "Country Music"(Larry Cordle's "Murder on Music Row" says it all, folks).

Well, let not your hearts be troubled. The Good Lord has sent us Hank III. And just like his Daddy, "Three" refuses to draw lines. His country is pure and real, but he ain't afraid to give a nod to any and all of his influences, punk rock included.

In his "Lovesick Broke and Driftin'" cd, however, "Trey" chooses to deliver the traditional country sound. Here, young "Triple Sticks" carries with him the haunting soul of his Grandaddy, and the tongue-in-cheek lyrical shenanigans perfected by his Daddy. Buy it. It's good and its real, folks.

The Williams Legend has been uncanny enough with the lives of Sr. and Jr. It now looks like chapter "THREE" is about to begin. Enjoy the ride.

...

What a great follow up!! He doesn't care about what the world thinks about his music and for that I have the greatest respect. He continues with a traditional sound and with his follow up it sounds like he's started to wander towards the Hank Jr. classic lyrics along with the sound that his father (until his recent release) has been unable to see is great! I think it's great when people buck the system and go for a sound that's them and not what Nashville wants. Keep up the great sound III!

The perfect antitode to all the soulless pop country saturating the market right now, with his new release Shelton Hank Williams is bringing country music back to its former glory. If youre not a country music fan to begin with you may not be converted but if youve given up on country music due to it going downhill for the past 10-15 years, pick up this CD and have your faith in country music restored.

hank III said he wouldn't do another country album, unless they let him make it his way, and he did just that with, lovesick broke & driftin. not only is it a really good tradtional country album, but hank 3 wrote all the songs himself (cept for the bruce springsteen cover of atlantic city). don't try to compair him to his grandaddy, just buy the record.

So, ...I'm going to see Hank Williams III live on a Wednesday night in March of 2002. I received a promotional copy of this, then newly released CD, and got through about the first 2 tracks on the way to the show. I remember thinking that this would be a fun, learning experience for me since I don't get exposed to too much Country too often. Listening to the first 2 tracks, I knew I would be seeing a traditional Country show. It had a sound from the "good old days," when Country music didn't "rock." This wasn't Garth Brooks style stuff, I was thinking. This is more along the lines of Hank Williams, Sr., or George Jones. Classic style Country. Well, I was right...kind of.

Hank III covers a lot of bases here; he also covers the low key Bruce Springsteen tune "Atlantic City." You get a little bit of everything with this one.
He kicks off the lp with a traditional "foot tapper." "7 Months, 39 Days" is a rollicking barn burner that makes this set flow wonderfully right from the start. As the record rolls on, you get a lot of traditional cryin' and beggin' going on. All of it done extremely well. There's got to be something heretic with musicianship. This young gun comes from a bloodline much like Lisa Marie Presley is the offspring of one of Rock And Roll's inventors. This guy is kin to 2 of Country's biggest and brightest stars; and it shows. A musician of Hank III's age, doing the old traditional styles of Country, is unheard of these days. He is definitely old school, and he had a helluva teacher!
With songs such as "Trashville," in which he slams the up & coming Country "rockers," he sounds his most conformative, ironically. This tune has a more modern style to it. It rocks. It has Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top on electric guitar. "Nighttime Ramblin' Man" and "Lovin' And Huggin'" are other songs that might fit into the "new" Country genre. And, lo and behold, they are both rockers. The "new" Country sound pretty much ends there though. On songs such as the title cut, and "Callin' Your Name" we get the heartbroken, "crying in his beer" traditional Country sound. On songs such as "One Horse Town" and "Walkin' With Sorrow," we actually get some yodelling!!! This guy does it all!!

Yes, I enjoy this record a lot. It is a very versatile Country record. I would say most Country records are not very versatile in stylings. The artist usually has a formula, and utilizes that formula on each and every track. This is an artist that does not stick to that theory.

So, now that I told you about the record, let me tell you about the most bizarre show I have ever seen...Hank III.
He takes the stage and rolls through the record, probably in it's entirety, and does a great job with it. Now, I had been "clued in" to the fact that he does a "Southern Rock-type" set besides the Country set, but I really didn't know what to expect. I was thinking along the lines of ZZ Top, or Lynyrd Skynyrd. The show progressed nicely; he gave warning to those who don't like hard rock, a few times during the Country set, that they may want to "find the exits" when the Country set ends. I found this to be very peculiar, leaving me even more curious as to what I was in for. At this point, I had no idea. His appearance during the Country set was, like his music, traditional. Dark blue Western shirt with white piping around all the pockets, ...long straight hair pulled back in a ponytail, ...and a big acoustic guitar settled on his lap. Exactly what you might expect. The Country set ended. It was time.
Next thing I know, after a fifteen minute break, all hell broke loose! The singer, with his electric guitar strapped on his bare chest and his incredibly long hair engulfing his entire head, is thrashing out power chords with Slayer-like intensity!!! It was extremely heavy stuff. It would probably be categorized as Death Metal by some. It was the most bizarre transformation I had, or have, ever seen.

OVERALL RATING: 7 (1-10 scale)
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