Straight to Hell

About Straight to Hell

Straight to Hell is the third studio album by American country music/punk artist Hank Williams III. It was Williams' first release since settling a contract dispute with Curb Records and was one of the first releases on Curb's Bruc Records imprint. It is also the first ever country music release to merit both a parental advisory sticker on the package and a clean version of the album for more conservative retail outlets like Wal-Mart, due to language more suited to Williams' punk rock side and some repeated drug and alcohol references. It also marked Williams’ first release with explicit lyrics. On his website, Williams encourages fans to support independent record outlets that are more willing to stock the uncensored version of the album. Espousing the Do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic more associated with punk rock, Williams recorded the double album at what was referred to in the liner notes as "a house with a good wooden room in East Nashville" (recently revealed to be the house Williams's steel player, Andy Gibson, was living in at the time) with a $400 Korg D-1600 digital workstation, handling producing and engineering duties along with his longtime Damn Band members Joe Buck and Andy Gibson, although instead of a "Produced and Engineered by..." credit, the Williams/Buck/Gibson triad was instead credited with "Settin' up the mics, turnin' the knobs and recording this record". The results would inspire Williams to state that every musician should own their own workstation in order to take full control of their own music. more »