ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III, Old 97's

ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III and Old 97's perform Saturday, July 14, at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands, 281-363-3300.

Comments (0) By Chris Gray Thursday, Jul 12 2007

RCA Music

Hank Williams III: May frighten pets and small children.

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Hear that? It's the rumble of thousands of Harleys and hot rods descending on The Woodlands for a bill made in tattoo-artist heaven. ZZ Top needs no introduction, obviously, as Houston's closest musical analogue to Nolan Ryan or Hakeem. Top's recorded output has been limited to reissues and compilations since 2003's middling Mescalero, but the new Queens of the Stone Age and White Stripes records both bear the venerable trio's sticky stamp, and word is they're sugarshit-sharp live these days. Still hoping someone finally calls him by his name, David Allan Coe will likely leave "Don't Bite the Dick" off the set list, but as one of country's few outlaws with the rap sheet to back it up, he's got plenty of others to choose from. Hank Williams III seasoned Coe's longhaired redneck archetype with everything from the Louvin Brothers to Cheech & Chong on last year's pungent Straight to Hell, and can get downright nasty if he's in a metal mood with his Assjack combo. At first blush, alt-country pinups the Old 97's might seem out of place in such boisterous company, but anyone who's seen them go off on Bill Monroe's "My Sweet Blue Eyed Darlin'" or their own "Timebomb" — well documented on 2005's Alive & Wired — knows they can bring it and then some. Expect both beer drinking and hell-raising, and plenty of it, at this one.