Hank Williams III

Biography

Shelton Hank Williams (born December 12, 1972), known professionally as Hank Williams III, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Predominantly styled in country music, punk rock and heavy metal, he has released eleven studio albums including his first five on Curb Records.
Williams is the grandson of Hank Williams and the son of Hank Williams Jr.. He is also the nephew of Jett Williams, and half-brother to Holly Williams and Sam Williams. Additionally, he is the father of Coleman Williams.
In addition to his solo work, Williams was the drummer for hardcore punk band Arson Anthem, and bassist with the metal band Superjoint Ritual.

Early career

Williams spent much of his early career playing drums in punk rock bands during the late 1980s and early-to-mid-1990s. During this time frame, Williams was informed that he had fathered a son, Coleman Finchum, who was five years old by that time; a family court judge ordered Williams to find more stable employment so that Finchum could receive child support.
Williams later played bass guitar in the heavy metal band Superjoint Ritual, now renamed as Superjoint for legal reasons, led by Pantera vocalist Phil Anselmo. Williams also played drums for Arson Anthem, formed with Anselmo and Mike Williams of the sludge metal band Eyehategod.

Recordings for Curb Records (1996–2010)

Capitalizing on his family name and resemblance to his grandfather, he signed a contract with Nashville music industry giant Curb Records. Three Hanks: Men with Broken Hearts was issued shortly thereafter, which spliced together recordings to make it seem that three generations of Williams men were singing alongside one another. In the late 1980s, upon first meeting Hank Williams III, Minnie Pearl, a friend of Hank Williams Sr., reportedly said "Lord, honey, you're a ghost", as she was astonished by his striking resemblance to his grandfather.
The success of the "Three Hanks" album garnered Hank Jr. and Hank III a Vocal Duo of the Year nomination by the Academy of Country Music in 1997.
Williams's first solo album, Risin' Outlaw, was released in September 1999 to respectable sales and strong reviews, despite Williams's own hatred of the record.
In 2003, Williams recorded This Ain't Country for Curb, who chose not to release it. On May 17, 2011, Curb released the album under the title Hillbilly Joker×Hillbilly Joker17 May 2011 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Hillbilly Joker2:182I'm Drunk Again3:513Life of Sin3:13410 Feet Down4:095Pistol Packin'3:136Tennessee Driver2:157M.F.J.2:328Now He's Dead3:009Drink It, Drug It3:0110Hellbilly4:14, without the consent or input from Williams after his contract with the label had been terminated.
In 2006, after resolving a contractual dispute with Curb Records, Williams released Straight to Hell on Curb's rock imprint, Bruc. Battles with Walmart delayed the appearance of this album, which was released on February 28, 2006, as a two-disc set in two formats: a censored version (for Wal-Mart), and an uncensored version that was the first major-label country album ever to bear a parental advisory warning. Straight to Hell was also the first release through Curb's Bruc Records imprint. However, the uncensored version was released through Bruc, and the clean version was released through Curb. One of the songs, "Pills I Took×Pills I TookFebruary 2006 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAPills I TookBPills I Took", was written by Wisconsin group Those Poor Bastards, who originally released the song on their 2004 CD Country Bullshit.
Williams released Assjack's self-titled debut album on August 4, 2009, through Curb.
His next album, Rebel Within×Rebel Within25 May 2010 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Gettin’ Drunk and Fallin’ Down2:352Rebel Within4:483Lookin’ for a Mountain4:544Gone but Not Forgotten4:595Drinkin’ Ain’t Hard to Do3:356Moonshiner’s Life3:297#56:368Karmageddon4:299Lost in Oklahoma4:0410Tore Up and Loud3:5111Drinkin’ Over Momma3:13, was released in May 2010, and was his last album with Curb Records. It charted at number 20 in Billboard magazine.
Between 2012 and 2017, Curb would release a series of unauthorized compilations of Williams's music. In 2012, Curb released a Williams album titled Long Gone Daddy×Long Gone Daddy17 April 2012 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1I’m a Long Gone Daddy3:392Sun Comes Up2:573The Bottle Let Me Down2:484Wreck of the Old ’972:585’Neath a Cold Gray Tomb of Stone2:546The Wind Blew Cold2:227A Good Hearted Woman4:178This Ain’t Montgomery4:129What They Want Me to Be3:2510If the Shoe Fits (Shuffle mix)3:49, marking the second album the company has released under his name since his departure. In 2014, Curb Records released a new album under Hank Williams III's name titled Ramblin' Man×Ramblin' Man1 April 2014 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Ramblin' Man3:172Fearless Boogie3:593Okie From Muskogee2:124I'm The Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised4:395On My Own3:296Marijuana Blues2:187Hang On3:008Runnin' And Gunnin'3:22. The album contains previously unreleased material that Williams recorded while on their label. The following year, Curb released another Williams album of previously unreleased songs titled Take as Needed for Pain×Take as Needed for Pain15 April 2015 · Album · CompilationSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Get Outta My Life3:322Ruby, Get Back to the Hills2:233Torn Between Suicide & Breakfast4:144No Values1:385Gotta Buy Paw a Truck2:106Take as Needed for Pain10:017White Trash5:118King Cartel4:30. The album is mostly a rock album but the single released was a country song titled "Ruby Get Back to the Hills". In 2017, Curb released a Greatest Hits album featuring select tracks from Williams's first four albums, mostly from Straight to Hell×Straight to Hell28 February 2006 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Satan Is Real / Straight to Hell (medley)3:082Thrown Out of the Bar2:073Things You Do to Me2:224Country Heroes3:305D Ray White3:486Low Down3:247Pills I Took2:318Smoke & Wine2:369My Drinkin’ Problem2:4210Crazed Country Rebel3:0911Dick in Dixie2:3812Not Everybody Likes Us4:3013Angel of Sin6:07Disc 21Louisiana Stripes3:282[untitled]42:00.

Independent releases (2011–present)

Williams released four new CDs in September 2011. Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town (a 2-disc country record with some ambient and folk influences), 3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin' (a metal record in the newly anointed cattle core genre) and Attention Deficit Domination (a doom-rock record), were released under his label Hank3 Records through Megaforce Records, and featured guest appearances by Tom Waits, Les Claypool (Primus), Alan King (Hellstomper), Ray Lawrence Jr., Troy Medlin (Sourvein), Dave Sherman (Earthride) and Williams's dog, Trooper.
In 2013, Williams released two new albums: a country album Brothers of the 4×4 and punk album A Fiendish Threat×A Fiendish Threat30 September 2013 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Can I Rip U3:422Different From the Rest4:203There's Another Road4:494Broke Jam5:115Watchin U Suffer6:166Breakin Free5:097Facedown4:018New Identity3:569Feel the Sting4:4310Fight My Way2:4911Full On2:1412Your Floor3:1713A Fiendish Threat4:56, under the band name "3".
In 2018, Williams was featured on DevilDriver's cover of his song "Country Heroes", which appears on their album Outlaws 'til the End: Vol. 1. In 2021, he released a cover of the David Allan Coe song "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" on his YouTube channel. In 2024, he and David Allan Coe collaborated on Hardy's song "Live Forever".
Despite being largely inactive from the music industry since 2013, Williams's social media profiles are still sporadically active as of 2025.

Musical style

Williams's lyrical themes include drug use, hedonism and the outlaw life, as well as criticism of the mainstream country music industry.
His live shows typically follow a Jekyll and Hyde format: a country music set featuring fiddle player David McElfresh and steel guitar player Dan Johnson, followed by a "hellbilly" set of cowpunk and psychobilly songs, and then an Assjack set, which consists of death metal and metalcore songs.
The lineup for Assjack includes the addition of supplemental vocalist Gary Lindsey and the departure of his fiddle and steel guitar players. McElfresh's predecessor was fellow-fiddle-player Michael "Fiddleboy" McCanless, who would play all three sets, adding traditional violin for the country set of the concert before turning on different effect pedals for later sets. Another former band member was guitarist Duane Denison, previously with The Jesus Lizard, who left The Damn Band and Assjack in January 2001 and later that year formed Tomahawk.