Photos by Johne Edge
The Scene: Monday night must have been a quiet one for most of Colfax. The glow of the street’s steadfast and proven neon signs failing to deliver the usual patrons it must have felt eerily quiet. Normally coveted bar stools sitting unused, the long lines at the liquor stores and dispensaries had to have been a lot shorter. I know all this to be true because Hank 3 filled the Ogden Theatre with the types of people that frequent Colfax, a place that Playboy Magazine once called “the longest, wickedest street in America.”
Opener: Normally this is the part of the review where I would talk about the evening’s opener, but there wasn’t one as Hank 3 played from 8 o’clock until nearly 1 am . “Born the son of a son,” like he sings about in “Not Everybody Likes Us” Hank 3 is the grandson of Hank Williams, and the son of Hank Williams Jr. He clearly could have taken the easy road to Country fame and become an imitator of his grandpa and dad’s sound. Instead this would be singer-songwriter spent most of his early career playing drums in Punk Rock bands. Hank 3 would later embrace his country roots and sign with Curb Records. The multi-instrumentalist feeling his creativity stifled by the formulaic Nashville sound would later breakaway, and in true outlaw music style eventually form his own record label. Creative control regained, Williams vacillates between Honkytonk, Country, Punk and Metal. With this type of musical diversity, and a long catalog of songs that comes from releasing nearly an album a year for your entire career, who needs an opener.
Hank 3: The man who Minnie Pearl once called the ghost of Hank Williams Sr. took to the stage, and yes he does bare a striking resemblance to his grandfather. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, at least for the first half of the show, and fell down his back from underneath a cowboy hat. His denim jacket and jeans was a road weary map of patches, stains, and stank. The things that make Hank, Hank; down home Country blended with anti-authoritarianism elements of Punk. In his hand was a worn guitar with the word “FUCK” scrawled into its acoustic body. The man stepped up to the mic and the show was on.
Hank was joined on stage by Andy Gibson on stand up steel guitar, David McElfish on the fiddle, Daniel Mason picking on the banjo, and the low end was covered by Zach Shedd on the stand-up bass. The first half of the show was filled with a mix of Honkytonk, Country, Rockabilly, and even Zydeco. Traditional Honkytonk and country themes of love, loss, and drinking were touched on in songs like “Mississippi Mud,” and “Hurtin for Certain.” Hillbilly lifestyle songs included “Brothers of the 4×4,” and “Troopers Hollar.” The sounds of Louisiana came alive in the song “Gutter Stomp.”
The second half of the show stood in sharp contrast to the first half. Songs like “PFF,” and “Can I Rip U” saw the band on stage get smaller and smaller as the sound was stripped down to Punk, and later experimental Metalcore. It is during this part of the show that crowd surfing began, and a few scuffles broke out as a mosh pit began to grow. Hank let people know between songs that, “the front is not for everyone, and that it takes a special kind of person to be in the front of the crowd.” In other words if you don’t want to get pushed and shoved maybe the first fifteen feet in front of the stage is not for you. Having spent my time taking photos not only from the photo pit but from the mosh pit as well, I spent the rest of the night hoisting a tall can in the air in the back of the theater.
Energy: A+
Musicianship: A
Sound: A
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: B+
Overall: A
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