That's part of it: You can't be a country singer-songwriter if you've never had an official heartbreak.
— Hank Williams III
I want to be able to deliver the kind of show that I want - to go onstage with my chin held up.
I've always said I'm gonna work the road as hard as I can 'til I'm 50, then I might slow down a little bit.
In country, you can grow old with your fans. You can still do shows when you're 70.
The folks at Curb Records didn't have respect for me and I was there for 15 years.
You can only be creative so long and then you're just down and out and completely destroyed.
My relationship with my dad will always be strained, but that just goes to show, I guess, that I'm doin' a pretty good job of bein' myself, and bein' a rebel.
When I'm making a record, I'm trying to take people through different moods.
He doesn't know how to be warmer. I can't blame him. My dad had to deal with more stuff than I ever did.
I can't really change Nashville.
If I'm opening up for George Jones or playing a complete honky-tonk, I do true country music. But if it's a complete rock club, I'll do some country and a little bit of this hillbilly acoustic country metal or whatever it's called.
I've got an addictive personality.
We're kind of like the Kurt Cobain of country music in a way.
We definitely get respect as far as the musicianship, working hard and being road dogs.
I'll never outdo Hank Williams. That's impossible.
We are kind of country, but we do cater to louder kinds of music.
I am from a rebel blood line.
No other Hank Williams has ever screamed like I have. I guess that's my way of officially being me.
I'm a very respectful person.
This is just what I do, play music and create sounds and all that good stuff.
I chose taking the hard road and creating my own niche and getting my own fan base.
I'm not just a country artist. I've got so any sides to me and the music I write.
Most radio stations suck as far as playing heavy-metal.
Everything is not perfect in our world.
I was always a Pink Floyd fan, and I was always into movie soundtracks.
I could put in garage doors or work in McDonald's but that's it. So I figured I might as well play the Nashville game.
I'm here to be lovesick, broke and drifting, writing heartache songs and singing about pain and misery and depression, with a few good times here and there.
The only thing I got of my granddaddy's is a necktie.
George Jones, Johnny Paycheck all them dudes they're respected and they were twice as crazy as I'll ever be.
I could have took the easy way and just been a cowboy, looking good, trying to make my money off Hank Williams and being this clean-cut guy. But I always wanted to be myself and go against the grain.
We're bringing together the country folks and the rockers.
If you look at how much Hank Williams did by 29 years old, it makes you feel pretty worthless.
I write about the dark and the happy.
I take pride in the fact that a guy and a gal can come to my show, have a couple of beers and still go home with a little money in their pockets.
It's right there on my birth certificate, 'Shelton Hank Williams III.' It's not fake.
I don't like to tell people what they should or shouldn't do.
My whole game plan, at first, was I wanted to rock out as hard as I could because usually you're old by the time you're 24.
I would definitely pick Flint over Detroit any day.
It's a great feeling being with a label that respects what I do.
I've always had that feeling for the dark side, for the anger and the hate-rock. The music is just the way I deal with it.
All through the 'Guttertown' record, there's happy, there's sad, there's strange - and I'm painting that picture.
If Hank Williams had lived any longer, his name would have been one of the most hated in the land. Nashville would have dug him deep.
I'm just gonna keep doing what I do, and hopefully not make too many people mad.
I write a song for me and I sing a song for me - no one else.
The true Hank III fans want me to be me.
There's only one Hank Williams, man. Singing that high-voiced style, them bluegrassers, I don't see how they do it - Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe - it's just a natural thing, man.
I'm the kind of guy if you ask me a question I'll tell you the truth if it's hurting me or not. If it's good or bad, I'll cut to the chase and that's the way it is.
Pop country is about being so clean and perfect and not having any rough edges or imperfections. It's all manufactured.
Mike Patton is my mentor, and he releases two to five records a year with many different bands, and he gets stuff done.
I'll tell you, Nashville ruined country music.
