It has been said that country music is dead, and if you listen to the tripe that Nashville is shoving down our collective throats under the guise of country, that statement could be absolutely true.

Luckily, there are some that rebel against the mainstream concept of country music, going back to the roots and giving new life to that which Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Hank Williams so deftly planted. It’s only fitting that the most persistent and vocal rebel would be a third-generation country artist, and even more fitting that he is descended from the immortal Hank Williams.

Hank III’s new album “Rebel Within” has it all: songs about drinking, mountains, trains, drinking, Mama, prison, drinking, rebellion, moonshine and getting drunk. As a matter of fact, the album opens with “Gettin’ Drunk and Fallin’ Down,” an instant classic that sets the stage for what's to come.

Hank III’s nasally delivery is so reminiscent of his grandfather it’s almost eerie, and what he has to say is certainly entertaining.

Hank III has a reputation as a rebel, receiving a lot of flak from the mainstream for his diatribe against the Grand Ole Opry on his last album (aptly titled “The Grand Ole Opry Ain’t So Grand Anymore”), and he’s not pulling any punches on “Rebel Within” either. With five of 11 songs directly about drinking, and booze mentioned in several others, he leaves no doubt about what's on his mind, and lets us know that his feelings haven't changed much for Nashville either.

Hank also has a penchant for death-metal music (and has, in concert, come to the end of his country-music show only to play an hour of screeching thrash to the dismay of some), and displays a little of that in “Tore Up And Loud,” which ends with him shouting a stream of obscenities, as he is occasionally wont to do.

Hank III is, without a doubt, a man with the “Rebel Within,”and Hank’s kind of rebellion will do country music a lot of good.

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