Watching a performance by Hank Williams III, knowing you’ll soon be (or hope to be), interviewing him in about an hour and a half, is somewhat disconcerting, at first.  It’s kinda like trying to read a magazine in the dentist’s office, while you wait for a root canal!  Well, not exactly like that, but you know what I mean.  Hard to concentrate on the subject at hand, that kinda thing.  And because I was fortunate enough to meet Hank’s road manager (Mark Harmon) and bus driver (Fanbelt), earlier that day, I now sat in the middle of a huge crowd of people (most of whom were eating Crawfish!), and literally shakin’ in my boots!  Now, if you didn’t read my previous article (4/12/01,…”Good Friends…”), that last remark may need a bit of explaining, cause I can see y’all scratchin’ your heads now, wondering what the heck I’m talkin’ about!  Crawfish??  Fanbelt?? C’mon, lady, you have to give us more than that! 

         Ok ok…here goes.  See, earlier that day, at breakfast in fact, I was busy plotting my method to get myself in to see Hank, and snag an interview with him.  I had managed to get tickets to the  “Hank III Show and Crawfish Jam”, (see what I mean about the crawfish?) and now, all I had to do was figure out a way to weasel my way back stage, so I could talk with him for a few minutes.  We had been on the road for over a month, and I was about ready to go home, when I was surprised to learn that he would be performing down there in Mississippi, the very day I had planned to leave!  Well, you KNOW that wasn’t gonna happen now! Sooooo, I decided to have breakfast at the Casino restaurant, in hopes that maybe I’d catch a glimpse of him somewhere on the premises.  HA!  I should’a known better than that!  Hank isn’t someone who’d be up at that hour, having a leisurely breakfast and waiting for the stores to open. Nope, he would much more likely be catchin’ some zzz’s, after a long night of, whatever, with his band and friends.  But, as luck would have it, (did I mention I was lucky that trip?  Yep, I won everytime I walked into a casino!)  Anyway, as luck would have it, in walked two members of his “road crew”, and sat themselves down at the table right next to mine!  In fact, they were so close our CHAIRS were touching!  COOL!  I knew they were with Hank by the way they dressed and talked…ok, so I listened in a little, so sue me! …Well, now all I had to do was find a way to introduce myself and ask them how I could get an interview with him, without making them think I was some nut-case, stalker!

      Again, luck intervened.  Suddenly, just above us, there was a loud crashing noise, like glass breaking and half- dozen power hammers hitting, all at the same time!  I looked at them and shouted, “look out!!”.  It seemed we might all have seen our last piece of bacon at that moment, believe me!  See, the casino is building a new hotel there (hence, the noise above us).  And, to make a long story short, Mark and Fanbelt and I had a great little conversation! 

So now, a few hours later, here we are at the Jam session, people eating crawfish and throwing back a few beers while waiting for Hank III to appear, and I’m about as hungry for crawfish as a sick pup!  Besides, those little fellas were lookin’ at me, and I was lookin’ at them, and I decided (VERY quickly) that there was no way in He** that I was gonna eat one of ‘em!  So, I just enjoyed the lively discussion, most of which had a very Cajun sound to it.  And I waited for Hank…and decided to practice my fine art of interviewing…and I put a pen and pad on the table in front of me, to take notes on the show.  And…well, it didn’t happen.  No notes.  No practice questions. No eating of crawfish OR drinking of beer!  I think it’s safe to say, I was N E R V O U S!

But, pretty soon, the lights came down, and the stage lit up, and there he was.  Hank III and “That Damn Band”!

And I was blown away!  And I wasn’t the ONLY one who was blown away, either.  If you’ve ever had an opportunity to see Hank Williams Sr, on video or heard him on radio (which you seldom do anymore, sadly), you would know why the audience reaction to just the SIGHT of him was almost a religious experience!  The guy looks so much like his grandpa!  And sounds so much like him, too!  But, with a definite edge and sound of his own.  So before getting into the interview I had with him, let me first tell you a little bit about the show.

      When Hank III walks on the stage, he brings with him a real presence.  He is humble.  He is funny.  He is the man!  Hank takes great pleasure in punching up the band with introductions, and special solo bits for each of them.  You can see that they are all real friends.  I could be wrong, but that’s the feeling I got while I watched them.  And they were together that night.  I mean, tight.  They played like they were havin’ a great time, and enjoying every minute of it.  As Hank would tell me later, “music is what I do, it’s all I ever wanted to do”.  It shows, Hank.  He started the show with “Juke Box Jumpin’ Tonight” .  And believe me, more than juke boxes were jumpin’!!  The crowd went nuts…as they did with EVERY song he sang!  He had fans in that crowd that had followed him from show to show, club to club, and were faithful to this grandson of a legend.  Many in the crowd were old enough to have actually heard and seen Hank Williams Sr.  And after the performance, Hank treated them with respect, as he took his time speakin’ with each one, signing autographs, and huggin’ the ones that needed huggin’.  (This was just one of many reasons I saw to respect this fine artist, that night.)

     After the performance, Mark walked me to where Hank was greeting the crowd, and told me he’d see if Hank could find some time, probably after the second show, to talk with me.  So I waited, and then waited some more.  But it wasn’t an unpleasant wait.  It was FUN!  Just watching this guy talk to his fans, and see him treat them with such respect, made me wonder what all the fuss was about when “certain” traditionalist folks say he’s too wild, he’s too unpredictable, he’s too crazy.  Folks, I’m here to tell you that this man, and he IS very much a man, is a human being  just like all the rest of us.  He just happens to have more talent in his little finger, than three quarters of New York record producers have in their whole bodies!  Oooops, hope I didn’t “offend” anyone.  I’m just trying to make a point here.  And that point is, Hank III is not someone that ANYONE should shy away from.  And I’ll explain a little more about that statement later. 

     Hank and I were introduced and he was very courteous and appeared to be happy that I would want to take the time to talk with him!  HA!  ME, take the time to talk to HIM?  What a funny scenario.  It was ME who was delighted, and honored that HE wanted to take HIS time to talk with ME!  Anyway, after all the autographs were signed, and the hands were shook, and the kisses on the cheek were passed out, Hank asked me to walk back to his bus with him and we’d sit down and talk.  NOW, folks….NOW, I was shakin’…(smile)…course, I took my photographer/hubby with me, and we got tons of great pictures!  I decided early on, that my style is not one of formal interviews…with tape recorders and a list of questions.  So, we just sat down in his bus, which was a beauty, by the way, and belonged, I believe, to our friend, Fanbelt…the driver.  Hank told me that Fanbelt got that name pinned on him a long time ago, by Waylon Jennings.  And it stuck!  I won’t go into any details here about Fanbelt, but let me just say that he was one very cool dude. (smile)

     We talked for quite awhile, although I didn’t want to take too much of his time.  I knew there was another show in about half an hour, and that he needed to rest his voice pre-show.  So, we just had nice conversation, with him telling me all about his song writing, and what he’s been up to lately.  He said he was going back to Nashville following this show, and going straight into the studio to record.  (good news for us fans, huh?) I also asked him about his performance on the Opry, during the 75^th anniversary celebration.  I had seen it, and was impressed with his ability to hold an audience captive, the way he does.  “Did you like performing there at the Ryman?” ….he said he loved it, and when I asked him if he’d be going back soon, he told me something that about knocked me off my chair. (sofa, actually) He said that they (the Opry folks) ask him to perform only about once or twice a year.  “Maybe they’re a little afraid of me, of what I might do or say”, he joked. 

     This requires some amount of explanation.  You see, Hank III, for those of you who don’t know him, not only sings and writes country music…he also sings and writes punk, or real rock stuff.  And yes, there IS a big difference.  The two genres of music, as you know, are totally different in many, MANY ways.  Just one of them being the language!  So, he knows that the country music industry people are hesitant sometimes, to put him up in front of a traditional audience.  But, folks, Hank III is an adult.  He’s intelligent.  He’s well aware of the differences.  And he plays the two styles of music for two different audiences!  AND…he does know which crowd he’s playing for!  So, for the Opry to be apprehensive, in ANY way, is appalling!  They’ve heard him sing.  They’ve seen the crowd reaction.  They KNOW he’s talented!  I feel, personally, that its an insult to country music fans everywhere, that Hank III is not being asked to appear on the Opry stage MUCH more often!  But…let me be very clear here.  Hank was not complaining.  On the contrary, he told me he’s very happy just making his music.  He just wants to sing, and entertain the people who come to see him.  He said he has no great ambitions of becoming a great “star”, and that he’s very happy with where he is today.  All he wants to do, is to be able to “make music for the next 20 years or so” and continue with his life as it is.  You see what I meant by humble?

     And speakin’ of making music…Hank III is so filled with songs, he sometimes has to STOP writing, in order to take some time to record!  I asked him if he had any problem, separating the two kinds of music, when he’s writing.  He said he didn’t, and that he has so much material inside him that he doesn’t think he’ll ever run out of ideas and stories to write about.  Folks, when you see Hank III perform, you are totally in the presence of someone who is singing about HIS life’s experience.  He agonizes over songs like “Nobody knows” and “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive”.  You can SEE the pain in his expression.  You can feel his soul reaching out across that audience.  It’s amazing.  Truly! 

     Hank III, only 28 years old, is a man who was born to make music.  He is a born entertainer.  He carries genes that not only make him LOOK and SOUND like his great late legendary grandfather, they also give him a certain presence that only someone named Hank Williams, could understand.  I wish for him, a long and happy life.  One that is filled with enough songs to last TWO lifetimes!  Thanks, Hank, for a wonderful performance, and for the opportunity to sit down and get to know you better!  I felt, that night, a little like Cinderella at the ball.  I had a limited amount of time to impress a young man with my sincerity, and hoped his bus wouldn’t turn into a pumpkin, and roll outta there before I could try to soak up some of his extraordinary talent for myself!  (Yep, I’ve written a song or two…but I’m afraid I don’t have that much material in me) Yet, he has so much, he doesn’t quite know how to keep from spreading himself too thin.  Don’t worry, Hank.  None of us will ever think you have TOO many songs.  And we will wait patiently, for as long as it takes, for each new album you can produce for us. 

     What a wonderful conversation we had!  As a journalist, I know how important it is to me to be able to sit down with someone with his talent, and write about him.  And far too often, the most talented performers are not too anxious to use their time, talkin’ to a Yankee gal like me.  You came through for me, Hank,  and I could see that you were genuine in everything you said and did.  I hope more journalists, and more fans, will get the chance I did.  I think they will.  You’re a very cool guy…Good luck to you! 

                                         “an independent view”  by Linda Fryer, BMI, CLA

                                           Freelance Music/Entertainment Journalist

                                          http://www.countryfryednews.com

                                         Lfryer1324@aol.com