The crowd at Hank (Williams) III's show at the Barrymore Theater last night was as frisky and freaky as those Mexican masks atop the lobby of that cozy Madison venue. Hank III plays with a variety of personae, an actor with a heavy family legacy to bear.
At first, he's the acoustic honky-tonk hero in Stetson and boots playing original ballads - mostly about his blues and his related love of intoxication - with a crack 6-piece backing band that features an upright bass, old-timey fiddle, banjo and pedal-steel guitar. "A Little Bit of Smoke and a Whole Lotta Wine" is a typical title.
Then he slips on the "hellbilly" rebel outlaw mask - singing "Tattooed and Branded," kicking the musical tempo up a notch, adding a screamer on backup vocals like some demented Freudian id or demonic alter ego, but still playing mostly pleasing melodies with sardonic wiseass lyrics. Finally he straps on an electric guitar, plops on a Copenhagen tobacco cap and delivers loud repetitious hardcore with fellow metalheads in a group provocatively called Assjack. That divides the diehards from the more casual listeners, who leave.
Apparently it ain't easy being Hank, who has forged his own intriguing style of punk, alt-country and speed metal. The endearing 40ish musician gave his enthusiastic fans a treat for Halloween: an entertaining preview of the Apocalypse perhaps. Meanwhile, across town, Bob Dylan played the Overture Center. Reportedly, Bob barely acknowledged the crowd. The Times They Done Changed, eh?
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