Shelton Hank Williams, better known as Hank Williams III – or Hank3, as he prefers to be addressed – is a direct descendant of country music royalty. But like his legendary grandfather and his celebrated father, Hank Williams Jr., he has always explored different genres and subgenres of the sounds his family popularized.



“If you really look at all the Hanks, none of them were full country,” Hank3 says. "Hank Sr. might have been the king of country, but he was playing rock ‘n’ roll before anybody else. And look at his Luke The Drifter stuff: That music was so sad and depressing, they couldn’t get it on a jukebox, so that’s why he started going by another name.”

Long estranged from his father, Hank3 does see similarities in how the two have spread the waters of country music. “Hank Jr. gravitated towards Southern rock and the Allmans, so he never stayed full country. As for me, being a drummer helped me get into other styles. If I get to 50, I might kick it back a little and approach the shows like Kris Kristofferson or Willie Nelson. We’ll see how it pans out.”

Last year, Hank3 issued two wildly diverse albums, the double country disc Brothers Of The 4x4 and the punk-infused single LP A Fiendish Threat (the latter is an offering from his new project "3"). Come June, he'll hit the road in the US, and he promises his show will feature a little bit of everything. "I always pay respects to country for the first hour and a half of my show, and then I move on," he says. "Country is in my blood, even though I’m not pure country.”

Hank3 Spring 2014 Tour Dates are as follows:

6/3 - Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom

6/4 - Newport, KY @ Southgate House

6/6 - Huntington, WV @ V Club

6/7 - Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant St

6/8 - Columbus, OH @ A&R Bar

6/10 - Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues

6/11 - Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall

6/13 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom

6/14 - Syracuse, NY @ Lost Horizon

6/17 - New York, NY @ Gramercy

6/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero

6/20 - Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head

6/21 - Norfolk, VA @ NorVA

6/22 - Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre

You can purchase Brothers Of The 4x4 at Amazon, along with A Fiendish Threat. For tickets and additional info, visit Hank3's official website. On the following pages, Hank3 runs down his picks for 10 essential country artists, listed alphabetically.