Country rap is here ladies and gentlemen. It is a full-blown chart-topping mainstream-acceptable sub-genre of country, like it or not. So what is a country purist to do? Well I have assembled a survivor’s guide to help you rebuke some of the ridiculous claims being made by country rap apologists.
The altercation happened after Coe hit the jackpot on a slot machine. There was confusion as security guards gave him orders that he did not comply with because, as he states, he couldn’t understand them because of hearing loss. The situation escalated until Coe was tackled by two sheriff’s, detained, and eventually jailed for a brief period.
I thought we had moved on from the “new Outlaw” era, to pop country stars trying to be the next Taylor Swift. Well apparently not. Now Miranda Lambert’s hubby Blake Shelton wants in on the fun, releasing a song called “Kiss My Country Ass”, an unapologetic, unveiled attempt at the Music Row “Laundry List” songwriting formula, that takes it to another level by rehashing David Allan Coe’s “If That Ain’t Country” and introducing “Outlaw” Blake to the spoon-fed masses.
The first thing you need to appreciate about Outlaw Carnie is that it is country. Forget that it’s on a metal label, and that Hank III’s name is being put out there for context. There’s no fusing of metal and country here. There’s no sludgy BC Rich or Flying V guitars, no screamo, cookie monster lyrics. There’s banjo, fiddle, dobro, upright bass, brushes on snare, if there’s any drums at all.
A while back it was brought to my attention that industrial rocker Shooter Jennings, along with No Depression blogger Adam Sheets had crafted the idea of starting a new genre of music, or more specifically, a radio format, called “XXX” after the nomenclature found on the front of moonshine bottles. The idea is to give a home to music that “is too rock for country, and too country for rock.”
Today is the 4th of July: the birthday of The United States. It is also arguably the birthday of the Outlaw movement in country music. Nailing down an exact date when the Outlaw movement started depends on who you talk to, but a popular one is when Willie Nelson’s legendary 4th of July Picnics started […]
On Saturday (April 17th), Outlaw country legend David Allan Coe decided to make it a six pack, and get married to long time girlfriend Kimberly Hastings. It is Coe’s sixth marriage at age 71, and Kimberly’s second at age 48. The couple has been dating for over ten years, and Kimberly regularly joins Coe on […]
I get lots of CD’s sent to me to review, and unfortunately I can’t review them all. And of course, a few are not worth reviewing, and I only write bad reviews in extreme cases. So I’m going to start going through my stack of CD’s regularly and at least mentioning the ones I think […]
So apparently something happened with Michael Jackson yesterday. His penis exploded or something, I don’t know. I tried to think of something to write about it, but since Michael Jackson has just about as much to do with country music as pop country radio does, instead I think I’ll talk about a stoner cartoon about […]
It’s rare you can pull out the term “Hard Country” and have it make sense and fit like a glove on an artist, but that is exactly what describes Johnny Paycheck. And he’s was an Outlaw too, in the truest sense of the word. It is for all of these reasons that Johnny Paycheck fans want him considered for the Country Music Hall of Fame, and have started an online petition.
I get a lot of questions from people. I think that questions are a really interesting way to judge the mood or the interest of people at any given time. Its funny, because I rarely get the a question just once. It seems like the same things are racing through people’s minds at the same […]
I’ve seen this theme hashed out many times, in my blogs and blogs of others, on message boards, etc. etc. : How am I supposed to feel when one of my country heroes hooks up with a country zero of the modern pop country era? Whether you’re talking about the love fest between Hank Jr. […]
On not just a few occasions since I started Free Hank III, I’ve found myself attempting to justify to someone why I think Hank Williams III is such an influential and important musician in country music, and why he and his music is worth fighting for. Sometimes it is in person, sometimes in the comments […]
This is a dude I probably would not write about under normal circumstances. I think he did have a huge influence on the Outlaw Country movement, but it would be a stretch to call him an Outlaw. But I’ve had numerous requests for a Gram Parsons blog, so here we go. This isn’t gonna be […]
Hank Williams III is going to be on Fuel TV’s Daily Habit on November 7th at ‘Prime Time’ (sry, that’s all I got) and twice on November 10th. So consider your ass told. I’m guessing it will also be archived on their site, and maybe one of you video people can roll tape on it. […]
First: On Friday I got my much belated, but much anticipated Metal Farm Magazine in the mail! Now I knew there was going to be pictures of Hank III done by Keith Neltner and Reinstate Hank Williams content, BUT NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THE HOT CHICKS!!! Dude, there are hot women in their skivies in […]
Before I get into the meat of this post, I need to do some house cleaning: For those of you that did not see the bulletin from the Hank 3 music page the other day, they announced that the much delayed Damn Right, Rebel Proud album will have additional tracks on it when it is […]