Didn’t know what to expect upon taking in my very first live “country music” show over the weekend. Especially once the Hispanic bouncer at the door asked if I was packing any knives as he patted me down.

But even that wasn’t as shocking as the mosh pit that broke out down front. Or that the show was so kick ass that it won’t soon be forgotten. You see, it wasn’t all that much of a “country music” show after all. Crazy drunks were jumping on stage, crowd surfing, getting thrown out after getting their asses kicked by bouncers, all in the name of a little southern-style hell raising.

Sure, Hank Williams III sounds a bit like granddaddy Hank Sr., but he’s nothing at all like father Hank Jr. This guy has a style all to his own. That showed through in the performances he put on for such a rowdy-ass crowd. There were plenty of tattoos, titties and crazy white dudes of all walks of life, which was pointed out by Hank III himself when he said something along the lines of “who else can get country folk, hillbillies, metal heads and your everyday-average-Joe all under the same roof?”

And he played a little something for everyone too this past Saturday night at Club Firestone in Orlando, where the bar ran out of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Hank III performed with all three of his bands for nearly three hours in all. There was Hank the country band (with banjo, stand-up bass, drums, fiddle, steel guitar and acoustic), then Hank the punk rock band (Hellbilly) and finally Hank’s most recent project, his death-metal band known as Assjack. The night was insane, to say the least.

Didn’t take long to realize there’s no sense in judging this book by its cover. I didn’t need another similar experience to compare it to. Truthfully, this guy hardly fits into a particular musical genre. He’s as Goddamn independent as they come in the music industry, I mean how many other “country music” albums have ever carried a warning label on them?

Got to respect the fact that he uses his life’s experiences to deliver the wild and edgy songs about booze, drugs, whores and more in tracks such as “Six Pack of Beer”, “Punch. Fight. Fuck.”, “Straight to Hell”, “Thrown Out The Bar” and “Smoke & Wine”, without turning a blind eye to the past. Let’s face it, he had to start somewhere.

That he’s a damn near spitting image of his grandfather, in appearance and tone, is an interesting back-story as even Hank Sr. had a bit of a wild streak in him before passing on at age 29. Over the weekend he was paid tribute to along with the likes of Cash, Waylon and Johnny Paycheck (who’s son happened to be in attendance that particular night.) Yet Hank III doesn’t offer much in the way of honoring his old man, thankfully from my point of view (and likely anybody else’s in attendance, for that matter.)

It was all about raising a great big middle finger to the establishment on this particular night, and I happen to be all for those types of gatherings. I have to say though, never been a part of anything like this and I can’t wait to do it again. Grandpa Hank would have been proud.

Get Your Mind Right – Included are the 10 non hip-hop albums that didn’t make me want to throat fuck myself with a soup spoon. Seriously, extremely bad and nonsensical hip-hop, although it sometimes makes me want to perform aforementioned act, makes more sense to me than critical and pop culture darling acts such as Fall Out Boy or John Mayer, which include fan bases of 12-year old girls and 26-year old skinny jean wearing hipsters to Jay-Z and soccer moms. And as for what passes for R&B these days, to put it mildly, I just don’t get it. What I get is far superior to what others get – a fact unarguable, of course. And if others get what I get, well then good for them because that means they’re cool and smart and have very large penises or rose petal perfumed vaginas. But why separate musical genres when qualifying their status? Well if you would stop sipping your retard juice long enough you would realize the answer is in the question – separate musical genres. I do realize I’m talking to myself right? Go fuck yourself. On to the list…

1.) Adele - 19 – Let’s get one thing straight, Amy Winehouse made two brilliant albums but don’t expect every British songbird to be some old school Camel smoking, Scotch drinking flapper with an amazing ability to flip a phrase as well as she flips scabs off her rotting face. If you want Amy then listen to Amy. But if you want some weird hybrid between Dusty Springfield and India Arie then cop this beautifully written debut album from Adele. Honestly, there are a few clunkers which in my opinion are the fully arranged singles off the album, but she hits near perfection when accompanied by simpler musical backdrops. “Crazy for You” and “Hometown Glory” are two tracks not to be missed.

2.) One Day As A Lion - Self-Titled EP – This five-song EP from Zach De La Rocha and the drummer from Mars Volta came out of nowhere. I gave up on Zach a long time ago. From rumors of a Trent Reznor collabo to an EL-P collabo to a DJ Shadow collabo, to the Rage Against the Machine reunion that costed $300 to be surrounded by people you don’t like, in front of a hundred other bands you can’t stand, all to see the three bands you sort of like at one of those cool-guy festivals. Simply put, I just didn’t care. But this shit hit me in the face like the first time I heard “Bombtrack.” It is a very dope mixture of new wave funk and the punk hip-hop elements from Zach’s previous job. “I’m the nail in the wrist of your Christmas” - Zach is back suckas! Plus dude gets down on the drums. 

3.) Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark – As any of the three people who actually read my myspace blog know, I think the Rick Rubin-helmed Neil Diamond albums are fucking fantastic. Dare I say brilliant. The fact that my wife probably would rather divorce me than listen to an entire song, let alone an entire album by Mr. Blue Jeans, doesn’t deter me from enjoying some of the best straightforward yet darkly romantic pop songs I’ve ever encountered. I listened to this album while riding the stationary bike and drinking sugar-free flavored water just the other day. Highly enjoyable and healthy? Cot damn right! Unconditionally lame? Unconditionally is a little much, don’t you think? Rick Rubin is a genius and he brought out the genius of Neil Diamond. Plain and simple. “If I Don’t See You Again” and “One More Bite of the Apple” are undeniably two of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time.

4.) Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It – This is a 13-song collection of vintage Motown-inspired soul pop that drips with a smoke hazed charm. Saadiq has always been talented, dating way back to the new jack swing of his nuts (if you don’t get the reference then freshen up on your Tony! Toni! Toné!), but this album is definitely the crest of his musical output. Even the sound engineers deserve an achievement award for making this record sound like it was recorded in another time. But the sound is merely a byproduct of the material created by Saadiq and the creative concept of this album. I hate to reference Ms. Winehouse again, but the throwback sound (without being trite) she and producer Mark Ronson kicked off a few years ago certainly serves Saadiq correctly. “100 Yard Dash” and “Let’s Take a Walk” are the two standout tracks. 

5.) The Black Keys – Attack & Release – I came across these O-H-10 natives later than most but thankfully not before all the cool kids began to claim them for themselves. You would think with the bleak economic landscape in Ohio (shit’s been rough way longer than the past year) there would be an abundance of beautifully cynical and contemplative hip-hop coming from the Buckeye State. Yes, there are a few, but they don’t get the same notoriety as Ray Cash (he was a joke right?). But it’s not surprising that this two-man Blues rock band hails from Akron. It just makes sense. And guess what? The music is super dope. I know this isn’t their first album but it’s the first one I heard. What peaked my interest first was Joint Contrast’s Dank Lucas wetting his pants over the fact that they were so dope. Second was that they are from my area of the map (birthwise). Thirdly, Danger Mouse produced the album. And most importantly, some of the songs on this album are songs they wrote for Ike Turner’s album which was being recording before he died. Intrigued? Exactly. Go enjoy. The last three songs are something to seriously appreciate. 

6.) Cat Power – Jukebox – A hipster indie-rock queen by age 15, Cat Power (real name Chan Marshal) didn’t get my extremely skeptical attention until a few years ago with her dirty south country blues concoction entitled The Greatest (it’s a brilliant album). But this year she released her second collection of covers sporting the same delta-blues backing band from the aforementioned album. Here she takes on Aretha, Dylan and Hank Williams. Joni Mitchell gets a superb cover in the form of “Blue” but the best song is the opener, a hauntingly dark version of the Frank Sinatra staple “New York, New York”. Bonus: she just released an EP from these recording sessions with six more songs. 

7.) Kings of Leon – Only by the Night – I know this isn’t their first album so that means previous fans either refer to this as their sellout record or their creative apex. Whichever it is, it’s dope. Mostly nonsensical lyrics wrapped in the alluring disguise of southern goth meets southern good-ole-boy mysticism. The lead singer’s voice cracks and squeals as it floats along well crafted melodies that intermingle well with the simple yet effective guitar work. There is a sexiness to this album that is sorely missed in modern rock and roll, so I don’t care if they’ve evolved or digressed from their earlier work, because this one suits me just fine. “Sex on Fire” might be the best single of the year.

8.) The Kills – Midnight Bloom – Bluesy electro pop would usually fall in the category of pretentious bullshit, but this guy/girl combo made a record full of the opposite of pretentious bluesy electro pop. That’s right, unpretentious bluesy electro pop. Drum machines, choppy guitar noise and a female/male sharing of lead vocals would usually fall in the category of shit that makes my head hurt in absolute annoyance. But The Kills made a record full of drum machines, choppy guitar noise and female/male sharing of vocals that sounds oddly comforting and melodic. This record succeeds mostly due to the dark sexual undercurrent that comes across in the pulsating rhythms and tortured party vibe created by the lyrics and vocal harmonies, which is most evident in the tracks “Tape Song”, “Last Days of Magic” and “Black Balloon”.

9.) Ani Difranco – Red letter Year – This is studio album number 20 for Difranco. That’s fucking ridiculous. All 20 albums written, produced and arranged by Difranco, not to mention released on her own label Righteous Babe. Once again that’s fucking ridiculous. This album is by no means her best of even the last five years, let alone her career, but there aren’t many people of any musical genre that can turn a phrase like her or construct an album that plays from front to back. And this is another example of her ability to do just that. “Smiling Underneath” is a prime example of how relentlessly charming she can be while creating a song. She can be subtle or use her razor bladed wit to carve through the bone grissled essence of a certain piece. Simple and plain, she is the most prolific artist of our generation and if you’re not familiar you’re probably not a fan of music. So get familiar.

10.) Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple – This album makes the list for the song “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” alone. The rest of the album could’ve been Cee-Lo talking gibberish over semi-uninspired Danger Mouse production, which it sort of is, and it still would’ve made the list because that song is better than anything your favorite band probably ever made. Creativity on this album is still on another planet compared to the rest of the pop world but sometimes an out of nowhere phenomenon like their first album should just be left to rule the universe by itself, instead of having some of it’s powers drained by a less worthy companion piece. Regardless of weather they should’ve made this album or not it still has staying power from a few tracks. “A Little Better”, “Neighbors”, “No Time Soon” and of course “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” are the key songs to look for.