Hank Williams III slates new CD for October

The disc apparently combines his hard rock and traditional country sides. Of the single, Hank III said, "It's got a little bit of the scream for the kids in black and a little bit of the banjo and Dobro for the country folks."

This is Williams' first CD since "Straight to Hell" in 2006 on Curb Records. "That was a big one for me, man," he said. "Rock kids that don't listen to country understood it. That record really had an impact."

On the new CD, Wild & Free has a rollicking, Buck Owens flavor; Me & My Friends is "a standard, good ol' country song;" the populist anthem If You Can't Help Your Own addresses the current U.S. government;" and the closing Workin' Man, a duet with the tune's author, writer/artist/construction worker Bob Wayne, sounds like an Alan Lomax field recording from the 1930s.

Recorded in HIII's east Tennessee home with friends over a two-week period, the album's magnum opus is the 10-minute symphony in 3 movements P.F.F., which he describes as "a high-energy, get-drunk singalong." He dedicates it to late shock rocker G.G. Allin. "The hobo kids, the train-hopping kids, they all love Hank Williams and G.G. Allin," he said. "And they've bled into our audience."

"Most of the time everybody's gettin' along," he said. "Most of the trouble we've had has been with the security, not the kids. I'm still tryin' to keep one half happy and the other half satisfied by flip-floppin' the shows" between stone country, punk and metal sets. "We're just doin' what we're doin', and people see the realness in that."

The disc also includes 3 Shades of Black, which climaxes with a bloodcurdling scream, and Stoned & Alone, a country ballad. "My dad's version of that song would be The Pressure Is On,' he said. "I still live for the road; I don't live for a lady - I guess that's part of the problem."

On Candidate for Suicide, "All the things I'm talkin' about in that song - the rape, the drug abuse and feelin' on the outskirts of life, as G.G. would say - that's all true," he said. "But just because you're a candidate doesn't mean you're gonna go through with it. I've got no respect for anyone who tries to take the easy way out. Unless you can't take care of yourself or stuff like that, I'm always standin' for you to hold onto life as much as you can. There's a huge amount of depression out there, and that's really what the song's about. 'Candidate for Suicide' is dark, but it's not sayin' do it; it's just talkin' about how it crosses your mind a good bit."