Triple Threat

Hank IIIPhoto by Todd Cooper

Hank Williams III — better known as Hank 3 — is a maverick. If you want proof, consider the fact that he just released a double country album (Brothers of the 4×4) and a punk album (A Fiendish Threat), and did so on the same day. But that’s not even a record for him.

“I released four albums at once in 2011,” Williams chuckles. “That was the one that made the record books for me. It goes back to giving. If I wanted to make more money, yeah, I could wait and not put them out on the same day, but I’m trying to keep it as real as I can.”

For Hank 3, “real” means filling his albums with a little bit of everything. Brothers contains slow, powerful songs (“Loners 4 Life”), happy-go-lucky numbers (“Lookey Yonder Commin”) and even a Spaghetti Western-meets-Pink Floyd ditty (“Ain’t Broken Down”). And as for Threat, you can hear influences like the Ramones, Minor Threat, Violent Femmes and even a hint of Slayer. None of this is surprising considering how a typical set list sounds.

“They’ll get an hour and a half of country, the punk or the hellbilly sound for 40 minutes, 45 minutes of the doom sound and an hour of speed metal,” Williams says.

Such variety and the length of his shows means a lot of fans tend not to stay for an entire set, but Williams understands.

“On the back of one of my Hank 3 shirts it says ‘For the few,’” Williams says. “At the end of the night, that’s what keeps it punk rock.”

Hank 3 plays 8 pm Saturday, Oct. 19, at McDonald Theatre, $20 adv., $25 door.