Risin' Outlaw
This is what rockin' country is supposed to sound like. Shelton Hank Williams, grandson of the country music icon, shows everything he's got on "I Don't Know," his debut's opening track: breakneck fiddle; fancy picking, equal parts Nashville and Macon; flexible rhythm section; wounded, piercing vocals; and unforgiving songs of rage, recklessness, and rejection. He then spends the rest of the CD refining it, song by song. As a writer, he has a real flair for imagery and the sturdy hook, and he also has good taste in remakes. Yes, there is some posturing; occasionally it feels like his nose for trouble, sense of despair, and wild eyes spring from listening to all the right records rather than out of anyone's real life. But for the most part, Hank III seems to come by these things the old-fashioned way: he earns them. Already. If he doesn't earn too much, he's going to do great things.--John Morthland