Lovesick, Broke & Driftin'

1	7 Months, 39 Days 3:26
2	Broke, Lovesick & Driftin' 2:24
3	Cecil Brown 3:32
4	Lovin' & Huggin' 1:53
5	One Horse Town 2:50
6	Mississippi Mud 3:22
7	Whiskey, Weed, & Women 4:08
8	Trashville 3:14
9	Walkin' With Sorrow 2:56
10	5 Shots of Whiskey 4:20
11	Nighttime Ramblin' Man 2:47
12	Callin' Your Name 3:13
13	Atlantic City 8:29

Barnes & Noble

A thoroughly defiant and unrepentant Hank Williams III builds on his impressive debut by stripping away any semblance of upscale production values, reveling in self-styled debauchery and generally spittin’ at anything that gets in the way of his good time. Augmenting his basic band with pedal steel, dobro, blues harp, and fiddle, Hank III and company sound loosey-goosey, like they're recording in their own juke joint. Other than a searing blast of southern rock brio on "Trashville" (yet another screed directed at the milquetoast country mainstream in Music City), with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons adding some feisty guitar, Hank III stays firmly in a hard country groove, and mostly in an up-tempo vein. The title track, an artfully crafted honky-tonk lament complete with weeping steel guitar, is a moment when Hank III considers some misgivings about his lifestyle, but ultimately decides "livin’ the night life is where I belong." That puts some distance between himself and his legendary granddad, who boxed with God over his demons but felt powerless to deny them. III, on the other hand, doesn’t waste time worrying if he’s gonna burn in hell —- he’s too busy reveling in excess and substance abuse: "Whiskey, Weed & Women," "5 Shots of Whiskey," "Mississippi Mud" ("I take my shots straight outta the jug/ And I like to get pure drunk in that Mississippi mud"), and the furious barn-burner "Nighttime Ramblin’ Man" ("I’m a drinkin’, smokin’, tokin’ nighttime ramblin’ man") deliver on the hedonistic promise of their titles. But not every song parties hearty. The long gone, lonesome blues of "Callin’ Your Name," with III’s voice moaning and cracking like Hank I's, is powerful tear-in-the-beer stuff, and a somber take on Bruce Springsteen’s "Atlantic City" closes the album on a curious, noir note. Whatever III’s up to, it’s not like what anyone else is up to, and its overt suggestion of the candle burning at both ends adds a certain voyeuristic thrill to it all. See you in the funny papers, Hank. David McGee

All Music Guide

Hank Williams III has repeatedly made it clear that he was unsatisfied with his debut album, 1999's Risin Outlaw. So this time around he took matters into his own hands, producing Lovesick, Broke & Driftin' himself and recording and mixing the release in a truncated span of two weeks. This appears to have been a good decision for the DNA marvel known as Hank Williams III, for the album is a much less-forced, more organic effort than his debut. This time around he relies primarily on his own songwriting chops -- with the exception of a questionable version of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City," which trades the stark power of the original for bouncy honky tonk -- and not on contributions from folks such as Wayne Hancock. The effort revels in the paradox of being a Hank Williams; "Calling Your Name" finds him reaching out to the Lord, while "Mississippi Mud" and "Nighttime Ramblin' Man" are fiercely unrepentant, glorying in the allure of long drinking bouts and pot smoking. (The latter being Hank Williams III's updated spin on the Williams mythology of debauchery.) The title track is the kind of downtrodden, whiskey-soaked number for which his grandpa was known, while "Lovin' and Huggin'" is more in line with the good-time party anthems his dad has ridden to success. The biggest surprise here, however, is going to be the emotional range of the album; Lovesick, Broke & Driftin' makes it clear that Hank Williams III is not content to sit back and trade on legacy. He has emerged as a songwriter to be taken dead seriously. ~ Erik Hage, All Music Guide