Straight to Hell

Disc 1
1	Medley: Satan Is Real/Straight to Hell 3:08
2	Thrown out of the Bar 2:07
3	Things You Do to Me 2:22
4	Country Heroes 3:29
5	D. Ray White 3:47
6	Low Down 3:24
7	Pills I Took 2:31
8	Smoke & Wine 2:36
9	My Drinkin' Problem 2:42
10	Crazed Country Rebel 3:08
11	Dick in Dixie 2:37
12	Not Everybody Likes Us 4:30
13	Angel of Sin 6:07
Disc 2
1	Louisiana Stripes 3:28
2	Smoke & Wine/Alone & Dying/Back by My Side/What's His Name/Down in ... 42:00

Barnes & Noble

If this isn't 2006's best country album, it will most certainly be the year's most notorious. The first of Straight to Hell's two discs is a tour de force of hard, traditional country that honors Hank Williams III's bloodlines in all dimensions, especially when it comes to what his dad called "the family tradition" of self-dissolution. But III has never been shy about trumpeting his sporting pleasures in life, which he does, vocally, on the foreboding honky-tonk lament "Country Heroes," a tune that references George Jones, Merle, Waylon, and even his granddaddy, and captures the spirit in a telltale chorus ("I'm here gettin' wasted / just like my country heroes"). On this set of covers and original songs, Hank spices up his blend of rock and country instrumentation with ghostly tape loops here and there. Highlights include the rumbling "Pills I Took," the bluegrass-inflected, hard-country breakdown "Smoke & Wine" ("I'm drinkin', I'm druggin', I'm havin' lots of fun"), and "Dick in Dixie," a breakneck workout excoriating contemporary country music ("I'm here to put the dick back in Dixie / the c*nt back in country"). Disc 2 is something else again, beginning with a trim, thumping prison ballad in the Johnny Cash mold, "Louisiana Prison Stripes," before moving on to some incredible pared-down musical performances with sound collages. The musical interludes include a stunning eight-minute stretch of honky-tonk blues, evocative of Hank Sr.'s publishing demos, whereas the soundscapes feature, oh, nearly two minutes' worth of cattle stampeding and nearly three and a half minutes' worth of water running, children laughing, and wolves baying -- for starters. It's "Revolution #9" times five -- altogether unlike anything any other putative country artist has dared release. If you have to ask why, you know where to go. David McGee

All Music Guide

Anyone hoping that Hank Williams III's "Hellbilly" metal band Assjack would finally make it onto one of his albums is still out of luck, but Hank III's third solo effort Straight to Hell comes close to getting their no-quarter spirit onto plastic, if not their sound. Taking the no-frills hard-country sound of 2002's Lovesick, Broke & Driftin' as a starting point, Straight to Hell pumps a good bit more darkness into the mix; mostly recorded at home on a digital portastudio, Straight to Hell begins with a sample of the Louvin Brothers' "Satan Is Real" interrupted by a burst of demonic laughter, which then segues into the title tune, a testimony to a life of cheap thrills and dangerous living that sounds like a classic string band rounding the corners at 90-miles-an-hour with empty bottles of bourbon propping open the windows. A similar mix of old-school country and chemically-fueled rebellion run through songs like "Pills I Took" and "Smoke and Wine," and even the less menacing tunes like "My Drinking Problem" and "Angel of Sin" boast too much swagger and grit to fit comfortably on the radio next to Toby Keith or Gretchen Wilson. While Hank III's self-mythologizing outlaw stance is not entirely unlike that of his father, there's a crazier and more sinister energy to Straight to Hell than Bocephus has ever conjured up on record, and numbers like "Country Heroes" and "D. Ray White" eloquently testify to his notion that bad craziness is a long and rich tradition along the margins of Nashville. (He also has a few things to say about Hank Jr. hanging out with Kid Rock on "Not Everybody Likes Us" to confirm he's most certainly not turning into his dad.) The album's most extreme departure point, however, is the bonus audio collage "Louisiana Stripes," which combines a handful of high-lonesome tunes with layers of ambient noise, bits of found dialogue, dub-wise echo and reverb effects, stray telephone messages, and sound effects ranging from thunderstorms to gurgling bong water. There's a pure and soulful musical vision at the heart of Straight to Hell no matter how much Hank III lashes out against the confines of current country music and messes with the form, and that's what makes him most valuable as an outlaw -- there's lots of long-haired dope-smoking rednecks out there, but not many that can tap into the sweet and dirty heart of American music the way Hank III does, and Straight to Hell proves he's got a whole lot to say on that particular subject. Mark Deming

Entertainment Weekly

Country's equivalent to rock revivalists like the Strokes, Hank III sings and writes honky-tonk the old-fashioned way, and vocally, he's a ringer for his scrawny-voiced grandfather. (A-) David Browne