Hank III @ The Roxy on Sunset

Written By: Veronica Vasquez
Monday, March 29th, 2010

For those of us who love Hank Williams, the iconic country music performer or even his son Hank Williams Jr., the lesser known and most accidentally downloaded on itunes, then you MIGHT just enjoy the third installment of the Williams clan. INTRODUCING…Hank Williams III. Live, trashy, and in your face!

I actually found the performance to be quite a breath of fresh air amongst the ‘rock’ and ‘metal’ bands that seem to breed like crazy here in LA. Mr. Williams III played his country/rockabilly tunes like it was no one’s business. And you know what? The crowd that night at the ROXY went NUTS for it. All around were flannel cowboy shirts, fringy leather, out of date mustaches/goatees, and my favorite, the rat tail pony tail worn by many a fan and even the eccentric front man himself. The sound for the night was unsurprisingly lack luster. It even seemed like the sound was better for the first guy, some ex NFL player from Nashville. Sounds silly? Tell me about it. But that night it made total sense.

Country music has its place in the music world and with guys like Hank III, they make you realize how cool it can really be. Unlike rock there is NO distortion to save your ass and because of that country players have to be 10 times as good. The band playing with Mr. Williams was pretty much as flawless as a Friday night show can be. Every single beat and note were played with ease and fun as the water tight crowd bounced their heads and recorded more blurry images on their iphones. I suppose my favorite part of the ensemble was the Roy Orbison look alike next to Hank that played the steel lap guitar. It just added the necessary ‘Twangi-ness’ to the sound and it really was something else to see Roy rock out on it.

Am I saying this is a must see show? No. Not really. I wasn’t blown away by it. And to be perfectly honest, toward the end the set grew a bit repetitive. But then again, sometimes its hard to dig someone playing live when the sound is so shitty. What I AM saying is that his music is for sure worth a listen to. Don’t download his entire album, but get some free tracks off the internet or whatever. Thats enough to fulfill your Hank III quota. As for seeing him live? Do it. Only when you do, dress up like a cowboy or like a cowboys girlfriend, otherwise you’ll just feel totally stupid.