Welcome to the new face of country music. Blue-haired body-pierced gutter punks stand side-by-side with men in cowboy hats and tight blue Wranglers with shiny belt buckles. Fiddle solos sound like they wouldn’t be out of place on a Motley Crue record. It’s country-hoedown-meets heavy-metal-moshfest, and the man drawing fans in is Hank Williams III. Hank Williams III proved that country ain’t like it used to be as he spanked Thursday’s sold-out M-Shop crowd with nearly two hours of genre-defying music in one of the most innovative live shows to hit Iowa in the past year. For the first hour of the concert, Williams and his four-piece band delivered straight-ahead country, with some of the songs venturing into rock-a-billy territory. Early in the set came one of the show’s highlights – a spine-tingling version of “Cocaine Blues,” a song made famous by Johnny Cash who sang the song on his classic 1968 live album, “At Folsom Prison.” The band’s high energy transferred into the audience, who danced, stomped their feet and clapped along through the entire first set. Mellow moments came during the twangy vocals of “I Don’t Know,” and the pace picked up with “If The Shoe Fits.” Cowboy hats and baseball caps waved in the air during the easygoing “Why Don’t You Leave Me Alone.” Hank wasn’t afraid to let opinions be shown in his music, as expressed his support for the legalization of marijuana in some songs, and discontent for the country music scene in others. Sending a big “fuck you” to Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry, Williams denounced country-pop artists such as Bryan Williams, and gave props to musicians he feels play “real country.” “Those are the guys who should be on the Grand Ole Opry, not this Bryan White shit,” Williams said. While the first set was marked with a mostly cheerful atmosphere, the music turned to the dark side as Williams traded in his acoustic guitar for an electric, ditched his cowboy hat, and changed from his starched and pressed bowling shirt to a grungy black T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. Hardcore punk invaded the spirit of country music. Veins popped out of Hank’s neck as he screamed into the microphone, sharply contrasting the twangy vocals of the first set. The band blasted through song after song, taking the Ramones approach to performing – no pauses and each song launching with a screaming intro of “One, two, three, four.” Guitarist Duane Dennison, who usually spends his time playing for Chicago noise-rockers ,The Jesus Lizard, got to show off his noisy guitar riffs. Hank’s cover of the Misfits’ 1983 hardcore punk anthem “We Bite” prompted the punk faction of the audience to start a quick mosh pit. Hank III fans fall into one of three categories: die-hard country music fans, hardcore punks and a hybrid of the two. Not everyone stayed for the entire show. But for those who did, it couldn’t have been more satisfying. Blurring the lines of musical division, the fans forgot about their identities. Sure the cowboys were still wearing boots and belt buckles, and the punks had their spiky hair and wallet chains, but none of that mattered. By the end of the night, the punks were yelling “Yee ha!” and the cowboys felt right at home in the mosh pit. Cowpunk at its finest.