While his father and grandfather both had tussles with the country music biz, Hank Williams III — aka Hank3 — managed to surpass his legendary kin in the feud department. For a decade, Williams spent more time in courtrooms than in studios while he rode herd on Nashville’s Curb Records in a contract dispute that left him unable to record music or even sell CDs at his gigs.
So when Williams finally escaped his contract on Jan. 1, he was so inspired that he wrote and recorded four separate albums in three different styles — 62 songs in all. He even created a brand new genre.
Williams recently issued: a two-disc set of traditional country music called “Ghost to a Ghost/Guttertown;” a crunching collection of doom metal, “Attention Deficient Domination;” and a true oddity, “3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin’.” This last one combines speed metal with the vocals of traditional cattle auctioneers. Williams calls the rambunctious sound “cattlecore.”
“My granddad [Tommie Yeargain Sr., who died last year at 88] used to sell cows, and I used to go to the auction barn with him,” says Williams. “I was always fascinated by the speed these guys had, and I’ve also always been fascinated by the speed of heavy metal drummers like Pete Sandoval [of Morbid Angel], Dave Lombardo [of Slayer] and Gene Hoglan [of Dethklok]. And I was like, man, that seems like a natural fit.”
While the record bears that out — the shredding guitar and staccato drum beats perfectly match the auctioneers’ rhythms — getting old-school cattle auctioneers to make a metal album was like trying to persuade Michele Bachmann to pop on stage with Lady Gaga for a festive rendition of “Born This Way.”
“I told these auctioneers, ‘You’re gonna hate the music. You’re not gonna understand it.’ ” ’Cause most of these guys are 60, 70 years old,” says Williams. “But I told them, ‘I’m not making fun of you. I’m dead serious. I eat, live, and breathe [this music].’
Williams went so far as to promise the auctioneers that the record would contain no cuss words. But while half of them bailed as soon as they heard the music, Williams hopes he can eventually change their minds, since he intends this new album to be just the beginning of this exciting (and seriously bizarre) new sound.
“Some of the fastest guys I wanted to use said no because they’re older and set in their ways,” he says. “But everyone who said no, I’m gonna send them a copy of the record. Hopefully I’ll be able to use some of them on the next go-round.”