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Given the high price and low quality of music today I imagine I don’t have to struggle to convince anyone that the music industry has been hijacked by big business. Music sucks. Stars are chosen and groomed by the main stream media rather than chosen for their talent by fans and, as it turns out, most folks are actually delighted to be relieved of the responsibility of choosing their own musical tastes. Call me crazy but I like to listen to music, and I’m just not hearing much worth listening to these days.

The industry is full of clock-punchers: the so-called artists that seemingly have a track quota they need to meet each year which they fill with generic lyrics born less from the heart than the wallet. I expect this sort of sell-out behavior from rap and rock; after all, musicians are like the rest of us and we all have a tenancy to mellow with age. So we’ve got guys that once sang songs like Cop Killa and Fuck tha’ Police playing detectives on TV and making children’s movies. As I said, I expect this sort of behavior from rap and rock and all of their subgenres because it’s so difficult to keep up that booze-drinking, drug-doing, groupie-banging pace as well as the level of anger that makes a legendary rap or rock song. And with social security being what it is, I understand Ice Cube’s need for a paycheck.

But I expected more from you, country music. You used to be about hard work, rebelliousness, heartbreak, and making bad decisions. Did you stop singing about hard work because the media keeps telling us that Americans are lazy? Has there been a time since 1861 when we’ve needed a little rebellion in our hearts more than we do today? Did relationships all of the sudden get simple while I was busy picking at my emotional wounds to the tunes of Tammy Wynette? And when did we stop enjoying a good soundtrack to go along with our mischief? Country music, I just don’t know who you are anymore.

Luckily the spirit of country is alive and well in the form of Hank Williams III. When I listened to Hank III for the first time two months ago I actually had to ask around to confirm that he really was off the radar of country fans and not just my own. You’d think the grandson and son of two of country’s biggest legends would have more respect in Nashville, but they’re not giving it and he wouldn’t want it if they were.

As soon as I heard the following lyrics, I knew I was in love.

I’m here to put the dick in Dixie
And the cunt back in country
Cuz the kind of shit I’m hearing nowadays
Is a bunch of fuckin shit to me.

He’s got the voice of Hank Senior, the piss and vinegar of his dad, and more than a little rebelliousness all his own. But he’s more than just the progeny of these two legends. The themes of his music go back to the roots of country but have a modern, sometimes almost punkish sound (Hank himself says he’s influences by cow punk). He’s rebellious; he’s hard working; he makes some bad decisions; and he’s the future that country music should have had.