The new album from Hank Williams III [ tickets ], "Straight to Hell," is a resounding rebel yell that should further distance him from the Nashville in-crowd and further endear him to hipsters looking for a dose of real outlaw country.

On the honky-tonker "Thrown Out of the Bar," Hank 3 sings of sitting up all night with the legendary George Jones and bemoaning how "country music has lost its soul." Well, a good place to start looking for it is on "Straight to Hell."

The first half of this two-disc set finds this Hank--who is the son of Hank Williams Jr. and the grandson of the immortal country figure Hank Williams--firmly connecting with his roots as he rambles on mostly about partying and drinking (see "Pills I Took," "Smoke & Wine," "Drinkin' Problem" and others). Besides being soaked in whiskey, the tunes are almost all drenched with fiddle and fire as Hank III gives Nashville the finger in many humorous ways--the best of which is a diatribe against "pop country" called "Dick in Dixie," which might turn out to be the funniest song of the year.

The second disc is confounding. It's hard to make a quick assessment as to the merit of this disc, which includes only one listed track ("Louisiana Stripes") as well as--get this--a 42-minute hidden track. The untitled musical marathon, which melds an array of sounds with short country ditties, is either complete hogwash or absolute brilliance. This critic is currently leaning toward the latter, though that could change with another listen.

One thing is for certain, however: that hidden track manages to hold your interest. The same thing can be said about Hank III: No matter what he does, whether it's authentic country or whacked-out punk, he's never anything less than extremely interesting.