The Damn Band is the backing band of

Hank Williams III Shelton Hank Williams (born December 12, 1972), known as Hank Williams III, is an American musician, singer and multi-instrumentalist, known for his unique fusion of traditional country music, rockabilly, heavy metal and punk rock. He was the ...

. It was formed in 1995, and the band is on most of Williams's country records. The band has had many changes in the line-ups. It consists of acoustic guitar (played by Williams), steel guitar, fiddle, bass, drums, electric guitar and banjo.

History

is the grandson of

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

and son of

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

Williams began his musical career in the early 1990s, playing with obscure

Punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands until a judge ordered him in 1995 to "find a real job" and ruled that he owed thousands of dollars in backed child support. Williams decided that he would pursue a career in

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

and signed with

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of ...

. Around this time he formed The Damn Band, which consisted of traditional country instruments such as the

Steel Guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

Fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

, and

upright Bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

. Although the players and instruments may give off the impression that they are solely a country band, they can easily switch into a metal-influenced "

Hellbilly Gothabilly (sometimes hellbilly) is music genre influenced by rockabilly and goth subculture. The name is a portmanteau word that combines ''gothic'' and ''rockabilly'', first used by the Cramps in the late 1970s to describe their somber blend ...

" set, and many of the members also play in

Assjack Assjack is an American heavy metal band led by Hank Williams III and Garrett Bremer. The band is one of the three incarnations of Williams' live show. Career For Assjack's long-anticipated 2009 self-titled studio debut, only Williams sang and p ...

. The Damn Band has appeared with Williams on television and radio, including

Fast N' Loud ''Fast N' Loud'' was a reality-styled Discovery Channel TV show featuring Richard Rawlings and his crew from the Dallas, Texas-based Gas Monkey Garage as they search for tired and run-down cars, and restore them for profit. The show was success ...

, '' The Late Late Show'' and

The Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM (AM), WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment ...

. Williams usually starts his live shows with a country set featuring The Damn Band. The band will then switch into a short set "Hellbilly" (often described as a cross between Punk, Metal and Country), after which bands will switch and Williams will play with Assjack, A.D.D., or 3 Bar Ranch. Michael "Fiddleboy" McCanless was a member of The Damn Band from 1999 to 2002. He has been credited for helping Hank and the Damn Band venture into Hellbilly music as he was the first to suggest adding fiddle to some of Hank's early metal work. After he fell ill from cancer, Williams started the "Fuck Cancer Campaign" to help pay for McCanless' treatments. The band has been very inactive since 2015. No new material by Williams and the band has been released since 2013 with the exception of old recordings released by Curb Records.

Members

Present

- electric and acoustic guitar, vocals *David McElfresh - fiddle (since November 2009) *Daniel Mason - banjo *Gary Lindsey - backing vocals

Past

Bass

*Jason "Red" Brown *Scott McEwen *Jason Burns * Jim Finklea *Zach Shedd *Jeremy Pittman *Anthony Galler

Fiddle

Vernon Derrick Vernon Derrick (November 7, 1933 – January 4, 2008) was an American musician and entertainer. Derrick may best be remembered as a fiddle and mandolin player of Hank Williams Jr.'s Bama Band in the 1980s. Personal life Derrick was born in Grant ...

*Donnie Herron *Britton Currie *Michael "Fiddleboy" McCanless *Jason Ellsworth *Ollie O'Shea *Michael Starr *Greg Garing *Adam McOwen

Drums

*Shawn McWilliams *Joe Fazzio *

Brad Pemberton Brad Pemberton (born August 8, 1969) is an American drummer, primarily known for his role in several bands backing Ryan Adams, including The Sweetheart Revolution, The Damn Band, The Pinkhearts and The Cardinals.'' dvertisement/nowiki>.'' ''CMJ N ...

Tim Yeung Tim Yeung (born November 27, 1978) is an American extreme metal drummer. He currently performs in the band I Am Morbid, which plays Morbid Angel songs and also features Morbid Angel's former vocalist/bassist David Vincent (musician), David Vinc ...

Munesh Sami Munesh Sami was the concert tour, touring keyboardist for Canadians, Canadian metallers, Strapping Young Lad on all shows after the release of their eponymous album, ''Strapping Young Lad'' (2003). The keyboard parts in ''SYL'' songs are minimal a ...

*Matt Bohli

Steel guitar

*Chad "C.J." Udeen *Kayton Roberts *Big Jim Murphy *Dan Johnson *Andy Gibson

Electric guitar

Duane Denison Duane Denison (born January 21, 1959) is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk. Biography Denison began his musical career by studying c ...

*Chris Masterson *Rudy Parris (The Voice season 3)

Harmonica

J.D. Wilkes Joshua "J. D." Wilkes (born April 18, 1972) is an American visual artist, musician, amateur filmmaker and author. He is best known as the singer for the rock music, rock band Legendary Shack Shakers, and is also an accomplished harmonica player, ...

(November 2002)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damn Band Accompanists American country music groups Cowpunk musical groups Psychobilly groups