Slackeye Slim Backhands Hank III / REAL Country Music Fans
Alright people, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m a little hot right now, even though I’ve tried to give myself a chance to cool off, because I know, justice is better served cold. But someone’s gotten on the fighting side of me, and let me warn you foul language is going to follow.
Slackeye Slim, a semi-successful goth country-style guy who now hails from Montana was recently interviewed in a Bozeman, MT magazine, and had some not so kind words to say about the grandson of Hank Williams. For the record I have been a fan of Slackeye Slim. I have written about his music. I have tried to spread the word about him as an artist.
Here’s what Slackeye had to say:
“I used to proudly say I played country music until I realized how fashionable Hank III made it while he was raping his family name to pay child support, err, I mean while he was paying tribute to his grandfather, speaking out against corporate Nashville and restoring country music to its true form.”
But then it even gets worse. He decides to train his crosshairs on EVERYONE who has a problem with the current state of country music.
“I get lumped into outlaw country constantly, but most of it is so insincere and generic. I’d never even heard any of that stuff when I started Slackeye Slim. I didn’t know there was a third Hank Williams. As far as I knew, I was the only person playing that kind of stuff. Granted, I do like some of it, and I have quite a few very good friends who are well-known in the genre, but they a) were doing it before it became the flavor of the week and b) didn’t make name-dropping people they know or bitching about how bad corporate country is a prevalent part of their lyrics. There’s lots of bad music, and I honestly don’t understand what everyone’s so up in arms about. For a bunch of people who act like country music belongs to them, they sure took their time being offended about how bad the mainstream stuff is. It’s not like it started sucking last Thursday.”
To read the rest and COMMENT (if he’s man enough to let them through) CLICK HERE.
My Response to Slackeye Slim.
Listen Slackeye, it’s very simple. Can you even comprehend how much money Hank III would have right now, with his voice, with his looks, and with his name, if he would just do what Nashville asked him to do? Do you understand that if he would record pop country songs other people wrote with studio musicians, shake his ass in CMT videos THAT HE WOULD BE A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE RIGHT NOW, LITERALLY!?!?!! ARE YOU REALLY IMPLYING THAT HANK III IS A SELLOUT WHEN HE PLAYS TO SMALL VENUES FOR A $20 COVER AND LIVES IN A RENTAL??? ARE YOU REALLY MAKING THAT ASSERTION?!?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HE HAS BEEN IN LEGAL BATTLES FOR 5 YEARS STRAIGHT OVER HIS MUSIC, BECAUSE HE WON’T SELL OUT LIKE CURB RECORDS WANTS HIM TO?!?!
Just because he has found more success than you Slackeye, doesn’t make him a sellout. Just because his name is Shelton Hank Williams III, something he had absolutely no control over, doesn’t make him a sellout. You would have to go over 100 deep in the names of current country artists as far as earnings before you got to Hank III, and some of those people are dead, and have been dead for years.
And just because you were self-admittedly IGNORANT of people like Big Sandy, Wayne Hancock, Dale Watson and Hank III, doesn’t get you brownie points with me or somehow makes you more original than anyone else. By your own admonition, you hadn’t even heard of Hank III when Hank III was publicly giving props to Wayne, Dale and Big Sandy for being FIRST.
And as for all of us that think that “country music belongs to us.” THAT’S BECAUSE IT DOES ASSHOLE! AND THEY WILL HAVE TO PRY COUNTRY MUSIC OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS! FUCK YOU FOR IMPLYING IT DOESN’T BELONG TO THE PEOPLE !!!!
AND IF COUNTRY MUSIC DOESN’T BELONG TO US, WHO DOES IT BELONG TO ???
Now I will tell you straight up, I do not think Hank III is perfect. I am not a house organ for him. My long time readers know that at times I have been critical of him and some of the decisions he’s made. There’s even a little part of me that thinks that III thinks I’m a dumbass. But I really don’t care. I just try to do what is right and what my heart tells me to do, and honestly, I think III tries to do the same thing. Sometimes living that way steers you in a wrong direction, but the difference between a good human and a bad human is a good human man’s up and takes responsibility for his mistakes, and yet you want criticize Hank III for taking responsibility of his kids and paying child support? REALLY? You think he should dribble around with nothing and make no money and not take responsibility for his kids, just so some asshole in Montanta won’t accuse him of selling out?
But I respect your opinion Slackeye, and I mean that wholeheartedly. I respect anyone’s opinions about III, even if they are counter to mine or they are completely unfounded like yours are. If you think Shelton is a sellout, fine man, leave him. Nobody told you you had to be a fan or like his music. But what in the HELL is the point in coming out publicly and critcizing him??? What does this accomplish??? ARE YOU JEALOUS ???? You want us all to puff you up by saying that YOU were the first ?!?! Like Hank III or not, he’s a leader in the underground country movement. And for the sake of the movement, regardless of what your beliefs are, for the sake of people like Those Poor Bastards, .357 String Band, Rachel Brooke and others, keep your uninformed, unhelpful opinions in your mouth.
Do you understand the amount of time, energy, sweat, heart, love, and MONEY people like me and other bloggers and podcasters have spent trying to prop up and support artists, and then you come around to tear them down? WHY??? I supported YOU Slackeye, I supported YOUR music. I think you’re a brilliant musician. I told people to go buy your music. SO WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO AND SHIT ON SOMEONE WHO IS SHINING A HUGE SPOTLIGHT ON THIS GREAT MUSIC AND EVERYONE WHO IS TRYING TO REVERSE THE TRENDS OF CORPORATE CONTROLLED MUSIC???? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU !!! FUCK YOU FOR MAKING US TURN OUR GUNS ON EACH OTHER!
This is EXACTLY what corporate Nashville wants, for the grass roots to fragment, stay weak, fight amongst each other, bicker about people’s bullshit interpretations of who is a sellout or not. AND YOU SLACKEYE ARE BEING THEIR TOOL!
But screw it, I’m not going to let your careless, unfounded, wanton whiny rant draw a wedge in this movement. I’m just not going to let this happen. I am NOT going to judge YOU or other artists or people who associates with you or even agree with your views. That is petty ass high school bullshit. I support ANY artist, blogger, podcaster, or fan that is involved in any way in this underground country movement. I will let your words harm this movement and the work of MANY to build strong grass roots throughout it OVER MY DEAD BODY!
Slackeye, you are not being as bad as the corporate machine that is keeping good music underground. With these words, you are being worse.
But you said your piece, and now I’ve said mine. And we will let the fans and artists decide who is right.
Respects,
The Triggerman.
Slackeye’s Ignorant Statements Revealed
Slackeye said about Hank III: “bitching about how bad corporate country is a prevalent part of their lyrics.”
First off this is not only a stab at Hank III, but anybody who has taken on corporate Nashville, including Those Poor Bastards, J.B. Beverly, Bob Wayne, Dale Watson, Joe Buck; pretty much a who’s who of the whole underground country movement. This also implicates David Allan Coe, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, Hank Jr., Hank Williams Sr. and many others, ALL who came out against Nashville and its institutions at one time or another.
But as far as how “bad corporate country is a prevalent part of their lyrics,” Hank III has recorded and released over 50 songs on four albums, and has written even more. Out of that, only 2, TWO, have lyrics that talk about corporate country “Prevalently.” And only two more mention it. So 4 out of 50+ songs talk about “corporate country.” That doesn’t sound very prevalent to me. Maybe you should get your facts straight before you start throwing verbal daggers Slackeye.
And the same thing could be said about Hank III’s supposed “name dropping.”
Slackeye also said: “they sure took their time being offended about how bad the mainstream stuff is. It’s not like it started sucking last Thursday.”
Slackeye, Waylon Waymore Watashin Jennings recorded “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” in 1975. We’ve been fighting this fight for 35 years man, and we’ll be fighting this fight for 35 more if we have to. You are clearly ignorant about the history of country music, and you are self-admittedly ignorant about the current movement and Hank III. If you want to start throwing verbal daggers around, you better get your facts straight first.
Slackeye is clearly a victim of his own reality. He thinks that if he doesn’t know about stuff, then that stuff doesn’t exist, or it never existed, or that it is irrelevant. He throws out erroneous, false claims and then says, “well I never knew about it” to somehow attempt to justify falsifying the truth. Anything that didn’t happen within his sphere of influence or knowledge base is clearly inferior to his reality, and thus, bullshit. What a sad existence that must be.
Respects to ALL
If you go to Slakeye’s blog, you will see that some artists who I work hard to promote agree with what Slackeye said, principally Rachel Brooke, Junk, and IBWIP. I went out of my way to email all three to let them know I respect their opinions, and will not allow Slakeye’s bullshit to harm ANY relationship I have with ANYONE. THE PEOPLE I HAVE MET DOING THIS BLOG ARE FAMILY TO ME !!! And I outright refuse to let one asshole screw anything up.
I also want to give the absolute biggest props to Montana Section 08 Productions for turning me on to this, being an absolute stand up guy, for taking the right side of this issue, damn the consequences, even after Hank III’s tour manager outright stiffed him on this last tour. Darren might the most pure hearted and honorable man we have in this whole movement, and we ALL should recognize that and send him an email and let him know how much we appreciate him supporting the music.
March 19, 2009 @ 12:41 pm
First off I would like to thank Triggerman for his honesty in what has become a little underground scuffle so to speak. But thats good. That just shows that everyone involved is passionate about THE MUSIC. Now I will speak on behalf of IBWIP and IBWIP only….
1.) Hank III is a great artist. He has turned me on to MANY MANY other bands and in a way can be directly linked to the birth of IBWIP. I will agree with Trigger in the fact that he’s probably made some mistakes along the way but who hasn’t. I myself have made many many just in the time that I have been doing the show let alone my whole life time. IBWIP has done many things to try to promote Hank III and most of all the Reinstate Hank Campaign. So to sumerize my miss spelled banter… Hank III lead me in the direction of REAL country music and the artists (including Slackeye Slim), people, and fans that I have met, shared with, and have had them support the show I owe alot to Hank III. We have tried desperatly to even get him to be a featured guest on the show. The music business is a cut throat business from The Big Machine (Nashville) all the way down to the little ol peeps like me and IBWIP.
2.) IBWIP’s Comment on Slackeye Slim’s blog: So for the record the comments that I left on Slack’s blog were not promoting the Hank III bashing or the “who owes country music” comments. It was simply to support a fellow friend in having the testicular fortatude to at least share how he felt about things. Knowing that he was going to get heat from it. Do you think that Kenny or his former butt pal Tim would have the guts to say how they really felt about anything? Hey… give prompt to Natalie and the Dixie Chicks.. they stood up and we respected them for that. We live in the good ol USA and there are thousands who everyday put their lives on the line so that we can say how we feel wheather its right wrong or indifferent. Slackeye Slim makes great music and he has always been a great friend to me and to IBWIP. Wheather he likes Hank III doesnt matter to me. I have delbt with many artist in the past two years that DONT like what Hank III is doing or has done but what the hell is it any of my business. IBWIP is a nutral party in this matter. We respect everyone involved. That is where we stand on that part…
3.) SavingCountryMusic.com: Basically all I wanna say here is that Triggerman does a fantastic job. We wouldn’t be running ads, or dealing with Triggerman in anyway if we didnt respect him and think of him as a member of our perverted family! Hee Hee. His latest blog at the least shows that he is passionate about the music and again, for me and IBWIP that is what matters.
Remember yall… if you aint making honest, true, real, music then you aint doin nothing for the cause. We all have one thing in common (IBWIP, HANK III, SLACKEYE SLIM, TRIGGERMAN) and so many others… We hate what Nashville and Pop Country has become. Also remember that we live in a country where we can say how we feel. Everyone might not like it but we have that right to say it. Hell, we have been talked shitty about too and its just part of the thang we call life and music.
March 19, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
Great stuff Blake. Like I said in the blog, I respect Slackeye’s opinion, believe it or not. And I hope I went out of the way to make sure anybody who agrees with Slackeye does not get lumped into some bad category. I categorically refuse to let something like this damage relationships I’ve made with great people while doing this.
March 19, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
well said Triggerman
March 19, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
Thanks for reading man.
March 20, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
I agree with the fact that everyone has a right to their opinion, nut the person expressing the opinion should at least get their facts straight before expressing that opinion. An uninformed opinion is just a pack of lies said to make the person feel better about themselves and I will not respect that. If he would like to make an informed opinion, I will listen. To randomly spout off about things he obviously knows nothing about just makes him look like an idiot and I will at least show him some pity for that. I strongly believe in the “underground” country movement and I definately will stand up for my outlaw country family no matter what, right or wrong. Triggerman and IBWIP will always have my respect, admiration and support for everything they have done and will do.
March 20, 2009 @ 6:29 pm
THIS IS SLACKEYE SLIMS RESPONSE TO THIS BLOG:
“First off, I wanted to say that, yes, I was out of line with what I said. I’m not going to argue preference or back down from my views of the whole thing, but I will say that I shouldn’t have said what I did about Hank III. He is not the one to blame for my frustration with things.
I have a lot of friends who are involved in this movement who know III personally and I developed a bad taste for him from stories I’ve heard from them about how he’s treated them. The reason I said what I did was because I didn’t think anyone would give a shit what I had to say. Not trying to justify anything here. I admit I shouldn’t have done that. But who the hell am I? I sell about one cd per month and play like 6 shows a year.
The comments about not knowing that these things were even going on in the early days of Slackeye Slim were intended to get the point across that I never set out to be a part of a genre, and not that I invented anything.
Also, I didn’t know what was going on this afternoon so I pulled the interview hoping that none of my friends would be brought into it. I just read what you wrote on your website not too long ago. Thanks for handling it the way you did, with respect to Rachel, Blake, Junk, etc. I have nothing but respect for those guys and I’d hate for something I did to bring them harm.
As far as my statements on outlaw country and ownership, those comments were aimed at the flaws of the punk mentality that goes along with the genre and the bandwagon that has formed. I do not believe that, for a lot of people, music is the focal point of this movement. I think it’s the rebellion that attracts people. It gives them a sense of purpose. I don’t believe a lot of it to be sincere for this reason. Particularly with people who are getting into the music because there’s already something going on. It’s not the music that drives them. It’s being a part of something, and therefor the music they are playing only serves as the vessel for their constant rebellion. It’s becoming a trend, just like punk rock did, and it’s going to get fucked up sooner or later unless something changes.
I don’t want to become too engrossed in country music and I was trying to make that clear. I’ve never been any more pissed off about Toby Keith than I have been about Nickelback. Musicians like that, regardless of genre, are different versions of the same thing. I’m not going to cling to one genre and say it’s is worse than another. That was my point, however incomplete it may have been.”
March 20, 2009 @ 11:48 pm
Ok. I get it. Slackeye Slim is a character this Joe Frankland guy plays for the time being and he’s going to move on when he feels like it. Fair enough. Get to gettin’. I want to hear songs by people who feel, not cowboy caricatures written on a whim…To quote his words, it’s a “different version of the same thing” It sounds like he is already bored with it. Now that Hank 3 is selling a few records some people are going to claim that he has sold out but I think that we have yet to hear the best from him. Like all true songwriters he is finding his way and will continue to grow as an artist regardless of how many records he sells. I am thankfull for his “name dropping” because it has led me to many other talented songwriters (you know who they are so I won’t “drop” them) It’s funny though. I probably wouldn’t have checked out Slim if it wasn’t for you (and Hank 3) It makes me wonder if he said what he said just to get some attention. I’ve met Three twice in Richmond, VA after the shows and he was very gracious to me so I guess he isn’t shitty to everyone. I enjoy your site, Triggerman. Keep fightin’ the good fight.
March 22, 2009 @ 9:58 am
Thanks,
And you made a great point about the name dropping. For every time Hank III has dropped a name of someone like George Jones, he’s dropped five names of underground artists we’ve never heard of. He’s booked them as openers to help get them in front of people. Compared to most modern country artists, Hank III has a very small platform, but he uses it promote up and coming bands as best he can. He does this on the metal side as well.
April 5, 2009 @ 11:06 am
Who the hell is Slackeye Slim??? I have never heard of him. But then again, not many people have heardof me either. Therefore, I try to keep most of my opinions to myself.
August 19, 2009 @ 11:26 pm
I reckon everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and whether or not you agree with it, y’all should at least respect the fact that Slim had the brass balls it takes to speak out against somewhere with as much stature as Hank III has. I have to say that I too have heard accounts of how III treats his opening acts, and none of these personal accounts have exactly deserved anything nearing praise on III’s behalf.
Also, before any of you somehow discover this, yes I do know Slim on a personal level. I consider him a fairly good friend, however I would be the first person to call him out as a douchebag if he deserved it. I commend him for his bravery and honesty.
April 8, 2010 @ 8:14 pm
Here’s the thing though-Slackeye is better than Hank III. Eagerly awaiting his second album. The guy’s incredible.
February 14, 2011 @ 3:23 pm
ha ha all you lot squobbalin over nothin and talkin crap like your songs… most country artists even underground sing and talk total shite any way so take it all with a smoke of bud and chill out..
oh yeah try singing about real issues like deforestation, pollution, animal rights, politics, corruption, war, religion, slavery, human torture.human trafficking, corporate domination, Stupid gun laws that kills kids, your government constantly lying to you all, destroying the planet for oil,………………. there is more going on in the world than your silly fall outs and dumb ass lyrics
just cos ya’all country ya dont have to act like a bunch of red neck cow f*ck*rs
if you want a cool scene that people are proud of then sort ya selves out and get real
less talkin more rockin, keep it real.
May 22, 2012 @ 11:30 am
UKJAY is right!
We need a return to protest songs,
artists, bloggers, & podcasters
bickering amongst each other is bullshit.
The government, corporations, & social injustice
that is going on should fuel 1000’s of
“true country” songs to come.
That’s all.