Holly Williams puts her own stamp on a family legacy
Holly Williams is just your average major-label recording artist that also owns a clothing boutique in Nashville. Oh, and she also happens to be the granddaughter and daughter of two Country music legends – Hank Williams, Sr. and Hank, Jr. These days, the singer-songwriter is touring in support of her latest album, Here With Me, released on Mercury Records. Recently, I spoke to Williams as she returned from a stint on the road. While traveling is an inevitable part of an artist’s life, Williams has found a way to manage the road on her own terms.
“Most new artists on a radio tour do a 90-day bus thing and three cities a day,” she says, speaking by phone from her Nashville home. “I didn’t have to do that this time around, which was nice. I think it’s all in the personality – I actually enjoy meeting people and seeing new places. Some people have traveling, but I love it.”
The follow-up to her 2004 debut The Ones We Never Knew, Here With Me seems to be a rather delayed second release. But in light of a 2006 near-fatal automobile wreck that injured Williams and her sister, Hilary, the album’s release is an accomplishment in many respects.
“The press has been great – so far, everyone seems to dig it,” Williams offers. “It’s so nice to have something out again – it’s been so long. When the first album came out, I was touring nonstop for a couple of years and the wreck happened at the beginning of 2006. I recovered from that and switched management and labels, so it’s been a long process.”
The 11 tracks on Here With Me were among many that Williams penned over a long period of time, giving her the luxury of selecting the album’s material from a large body of work.
“It was [written] very slowly only because I didn’t do the ‘I’m going to wait to write until I know I’m putting another album out.’ I write all the time whether I’m supposed to be recording for a record or not. ‘Mama’ is at least three years old and ‘Alone’ is three or four years old. Some are really old and some are really new. When I signed with the new label, it wasn’t like I had to go find songs. I had so many – in five years’ time you write a lot of songs. I have so much back material, I’m ready to start cutting the next one,” Williams says.
When performing songs that have been performed literally hundreds of times already, does Williams have to force the inspiration to sing them again?
“That happens when people have the one big hit. I’ve heard Lee Ann Womack [say] ‘I don’t know if I can sing ‘I Hope You Dance’ again. I haven’t had some huge hit where everyone knows only that one song. A lot of artists get in the place where they have one huge hit, so everyone wants to hear that one song. Since I haven’t had that, I still really enjoy playing songs on my first album and songs off this record. I try to stay away from writing trendy songs or songs in the moment. They’re mostly about emotional issues that people can relate to 50 years from now. It’s not written about 2009 and what we’re living in right now,” she says.
Given her pedigree, I ask Williams if she ever feels burdened by the weight of the Williams family legacy.
“People tend to not believe this, but I’ve never really felt like I’m carrying anything. When my dad became a musician, he was touring as Hank, Sr.’s son and wearing his clothes. He was literally a cloned version of him – everyone wanted him to be that guy. When he played his own songs, half of the crowd left. So he had a pressure to live up to ‘If I’m not as good as him, people aren’t going to like me.’ I started in this business playing my own acoustic gigs at any songwriter club that would have me. Management, label and everything were completely separate from my dad’s and I never came out a Hank’s daughter – word would get out, but I wasn’t touting myself that way. No one was requesting ‘Family Tradition’ and ‘Whiskey Bent And Hell Bound.’ So it keeps me on my toes and it makes me want to do my best, but not in a competitive manner. It’s more of an inspiration thing.”
