Music
Holly Williams' CD Here With Me carries a tuneful tradition
By JOE LEYDON
Carrying on a proud family tradition in own style, on her own terms, Holly Williams — granddaughter of the legendary Hank Williams, daughter of the bodaciously rowdy Hank Jr. — is doing a full-court-press publicity push for her latest CD, Here With Me.
It's an impressive collection of 11 ambitiously diverse tracks (most of them penned by the 28-year-old singer-songwriter herself) that firmly establish her own credentials as a world-class country artist.
She's set to perform Friday, June 19, on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, and has upcoming appearances scheduled for NPR's Weekend Edition and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
You can also watch the new video for her latest single, "Alone," here.
Describing herself as "a somewhat folkie country girl," Holly says that while growing up in Nashville, neither she nor her sister, Hilary, felt especially inclined to seek out a showbiz career.
"And the funny thing is, no one really ever asked us about it," she says. "Because my dad kept the music very, very separate. When he came home, it was hunting and fishing — that's what he was interested in. He talked about deer and turkey — not about touring. We didn't discuss music, we barely went to any of his concerts. Very rarely did we even go to the recording studio.
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"So there was never that thing while we were growing up where people would ask us, 'So, are you going to grow up and be a singer? Are you going to follow in your dad's footsteps?' My mom had us at church every Sunday, and on fieldtrips at a school, that sort of thing. Living in the suburbs, we were raised so normally — just any other my friends whose dads were bankers or whatever. So there really wasn't that question until I got into the music business as a songwriter. And then people were going: 'Are you going to keep writing, or are you going to be a singer, too?'"
Holly had already started her career as singer-songwriter — and already had a debut album, The Ones We Never Knew, under her belt — when, in March 2006, she and her sister very nearly died in a devastating car wreck near Memphis.
After that brush with death, she says, she became much more seriously focused about her musical career.
But that wasn't her only attitudinal adjustment.
"It's kind of a blessing that me and my sister at such a young age were taught how fragile life is. It makes you want to fix any problems you might have with family or friends, and deal with complications differently. And not worry and fight about stupid little things. And just realize how important every day is — because we don't know if we'll still be around at the end of it."
June 2009
