COUNTRY OUTLAW musician shoots from the lip

By John Benson

hank williams jr.

Bocephus will perform at the Canfield Fair on Sept. 6.

Are you ready for some Hank Williams Jr.?

Well, you better be as the country outlaw returns to the Buckeye State for a Sept. 6 show at the Canfield Fair.

For his fans, it’s an exciting opportunity to see the somewhat reclusive legend perform his hits, as well as material from his latest effort “127 Rose Avenue.”

To promote his upcoming concert, The Vindicator was granted a brief phone interview with Williams, son of country music bellwether Hank Sr.

Early on it was apparent this conversation would be different from most.

First of all, one doesn’t interview Williams as much as start him off with a thought that he may entertain or, as often was the case, lead to an unrelated topic. The result was nothing short of entertaining, amazing, hilarious and, well, confusing.

Still, he’s Bocephus, known for keeping the “family tradition” of being “whiskey bent and hell bound.”

So here’s a condensed transcript of the Williams interview that should leave fans champing at the bit for his upcoming show. Buckle your seat belt and hold on. Here we go …

Q. Have you been through Youngstown before?

A. “[Expletive], yeah. [expletive], yeah. This ain’t my first rodeo.

Q. Where are you calling from today?

A. We’re in Northwest Tennessee. That’s a good question because it could be Saint George Island, Alabama or Florida or Montana. It varies.

Q. Congratulations on your latest album. What was the idea behind releasing a new album now?

A. I’ve written more songs in the last 10 months than I have in the last six years, probably.

Q. Why are you feeling so prolific?

A. I don’t know, it’s all happening good. I don’t do a lot of these interviews, so get with it. I’m a cut-anddry guy. I do 20 shows a year when, where and who I want to. We’re coming up there. The New York Slime and the Washington Composts, they both said, “My God, this is the greatest thing [‘127 Rose Avenue’] we ever heard.” I’m a guy who has 100-something albums and CDs, and the thing debuts at No. 7. So I’m real, real proud of it. It’s happening. I go about a mile and quarter every morning with a .45 automatic, a hickory stick and two Labradors, and I wrote like two of these songs like right out of the blue. Like from the heavens. So there’s something real special going on. I don’t know why, but I’m glad it is.

Q. So does that mean we should expect another new album soon?

A. Nah, no, no. I’m already putting things together for that one, but I don’t get in a hurry on this stuff. This one took like over two years.

Q. At this point in your career, what do you feel the legend of Hank Williams Jr. is?

A. I don’t know. I haven’t dwelled a lot on that, either. I think if you ask a promoter, you’re going to have a whole bunch of 12-year-olds out there, teenagers, 20somethings, all the way to 70-year-olds. You’ll have them all. That’s kind of the neat thing. And we’re only going to be in so many places, so many times a year. We don’t beat this horse to death and people know that. They say, “You know what, he’s going to do that many and that’s going to be it because that guy, when it’s Sept. 1 and the NFL season [starts], he’s gone.” So we work hard and we play hard. So I don’t know. I don’t know what the legend is. Go to the [Country Music] Hall of Fame and you can see it.

Q. Is there any truth to the rumor that you’re considering a run for U.S. Senate?

A. We’ll see. They’re in such a tailspin now, probably won’t have to. We have the worst administration in our lifetime. We have the biggest idiots running this country. The best thing anyone can do is mail a bag of tea to all of their representatives. Don’t worry, we’re going to clean their a** out in 2010.

Q. So you’re serious about considering a run for office?

A. Maybe. Everybody wants me to. I don’t know if I could deal with all of those slimeballs up there. But yeah, they’ve been begging me to for over two years. You know, Davy Crockett was a United States Senator from Tennessee. And he lasted a little while. That’s probably what would happen to me. He got sick of it and left. Guess where I’m going? I’m going down to the auto parts store to get my license plates to put my brand-new tag on my big four-wheel truck that says “Don’t tread on me.” Bye!

if you go

Who: Hank Williams Jr. with George Jones.

When: 8 p.m. Sept. 6.

Where: Canfield Fair.

Details: Tickets are $36 to $48, and are on sale at www.canfieldfair.com.