Bio
“I’m such a blatantly honest person,” says Holly, “and I love to listen to albums where I feel like the artist is truly sharing their life and intimate details with me. I like to feel like I’m really getting to know their life and struggles and joys.” Holly Williams is an accomplished singer/songwriter with quite a story to tell. There is much more to this artist than just belonging to a famous family with “Williams” as a last name.
People Magazine named Holly’s 2nd record “Here With Me” one of the top 10 albums of the year in any genre…
Billboard magazine proclaimed “One of the best singer/songwriter albums to come out of Nashville in the last year”…
These are just a few hints of the overwhelming critical acclaim for this artist.
Holly has been using music to tell the story of her life and those around her for quite some time. Starting at age eight, Holly filled a notebook she called “Holly’s song folder” with her own compositions, though the lyrical content was far beyond the comprehension of your typical elementary school student. The first of these songs titled “Who Am I” told the story of a young woman facing a broken marriage and mounting confusion about her place in life. Holly’s penchant for addressing life’s ups and downs through song was clearly established at this point, as was her songwriting method.
Her love affair came to the forefront at age 17 when she picked up a guitar, learned a few chords, and discovered her gift for crafting music and lyrics. As her high school friends continued on to college, Holly took a different path—striking out on her own to make music. Giving herself one year to pursue her dream, Holly began booking shows for herself around Nashville at age 18.
That one year turned into three with Holly playing shows by herself and with a small band. Following a three-month stay in Los Angeles where she honed her songwriting skills and studied the piano as a second instrument, Holly accepted an offer to tour Europe with accomplished singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith, one of her favorites.
“I flew over there with a guitar and a backpack full of five-song EP’s I’d made and took trains to each city,” says Holly. “It was an amazing time, I had just read Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’, and Salinger’s ‘Catcher In The Rye’ and they completely changed me. I was traveling alone throughout Europe doing what I loved and roughing it, and I could so easily relate to these complex characters going out on their own and finding their path.”
Around this time, Holly began to realize the full meaning of her family’s history in the music world. Though her father is country legend Hank Williams Jr., Holly’s time spent with her dad mostly took place when he was off the road and away from the spotlight. In turn, Holly never realized the influence of her grandfather Hank Williams, Sr. until she embarked on her own musical explorations.
“The artists that I love are the ones that brought me back to him. When I started writing songs, I heard people like Dylan, Jackson Browne, Tom Waits and John Prine talk about Hank Sr. being an influence. I love how that circle happened.
Over the next few years, Holly’s touring kept her on the road for months at a time. Kasey Chambers and Holly had some very successful runs throughout Europe and Australia. Stateside Holly drove around the country in her mom’s suburban with a keyboard and guitar in the back, sometimes with very long stretches in between shows. She shared the bill with a wide range of artists including Train, John Mellencamp, Keith Urban, and Madeleine Peyroux. With five years of independent touring under her belt, Holly released her critically-acclaimed debut album “The Ones We Never Knew” in 2004 on Universal South.
This album included some fan favorites including “Sometimes” which speaks about her gone-too-soon legendary grandfather ‘I wish I were an angel in 52’ in a blue Cadillac on the eve of the new year/And there I would have saved him, the man who sang the blues/Maybe he is listening right now/Hopefully he’s listening right now’. Another beautifully written track is “Would You Still Have Fallen” asking a friend how much she could have done to save her from the spiral of addiction. “Everybody’s Waiting For A Change” was her most successful single overseas on this album.
With her career on the upswing, Holly’s life was almost cut short when she and her sister Hilary were involved in a devastating wreck near Memphis in March 2006. Hilary’s injuries were much more extensive than Holly’s, and both were in critical condition by the time their parents arrived at the hospital. Looking back on the accident, Holly is truly thankful she and her sister survived. The events of that day forever changed the course of Holly’s life and serve as the inspiration for one of the most stirring tracks off of her new record, the song is called “Without Jesus Here With Me” and it quickly became one of her most requested songs.
“Living through that wreck was truly a miracle,” Holly declares. “My sister went unconscious from an extreme loss of blood and had an amazing experience in Heaven with my grandparents, no one could believe what she went through and that she lived.
The doctors couldn’t explain how she was still alive from her extensive injuries, she has endured 26 surgeries, has re-learned to walk 3 different times, and released a book in the fall of 2010 called ‘Sign Of Life’ about her amazing story. She told me to put my seatbelt on one mile before the wreck and she literally saved my life.”
After she was able to play the guitar again she was overflowing with songs. One in particular “Mama” took on the touchy, all too commonplace topic of divorce. This lyric tells the story of Holly’s own mother and the positive attitude she displayed to her daughters while splitting up with their father. “So many parents talk about their spouses so horribly in front of their kids. My parents never talked about each other in a negative light in front of us, and I always joke with my mom that they saved me thousands of dollars in therapy!” Holly says. The line “You never wore your pain too thick” was for my amazing mother, who kept a smile on and made us feel that everything was ok during the painful divorce. She was an amazing single mother and I didn’t realize the sacrifice she made until I was much older.” Holly shared a special moment on Conan O’ Brien performing this song alongside her mother. Holly’s mother has been in the studio with Holly and Jools Holland, Jimmy Kimmel, and many other media outlets. “My mom is my biggest supporter and an amazing singer, I love when our schedules allow her to travel and see the world with me”, Holly says.
With her second album “Here With Me” for Universal records, Holly succeeded in creating the type of album that would easily find a place among the works of her favorite artists. It was released in June 2009 and hailed as one of the best albums of the year repeatedly in the press. Penning the majority of the album’s 11 tracks, Holly writes with piercing clarity on situations plucked from her life. While these songs come from extremely personal places, Holly’s emotional honesty and commanding vocal performances give “Here With Me” a timeless quality that only gets richer on repeated listens.
As it turns out, “Mama” is just the tip of the iceberg on this collection of gems. The songs each contain a vulnerably honest quality brought to life by Holly’s stunning vocal performances. Nowhere is Holly’s gift more evident than on “I Hold On’. She eloquently explores the process of grieving over a love lost. ‘I used to move on easy I was strong/Like a widow to her lover I hold on’—This simple and beautifully written song shows hints of her grandfather’s genius with his pen.
“Three Days In Bed” uses Holly’s measured choice of words and haunting vocal performance to paint a startling visual in the listener’s mind recounting the story of a love affair in Paris. “It’s the only track on the record that is a live performance with me and my guitar, completely raw, which was very important to me to have on this record”, Holly says.
While Holly has clearly forged her own musical path, shades of her family history pop up here and there throughout her songs. Thee lonesome simplicity of Hank Sr.’s lyrics show themselves most evidently on “Alone”, which deals with the all too familiar fear of being alone and never finding someone, sometimes due to your own insecurities and expectations. This is a stunning song with Holly playing the piano beautifully.
Holly has recently been sharing the stage with Jewel, Amos Lee and John Hiatt among others in the US, and she completed a successful 6 week solo tour in Europe in the spring of 2010. She also collaborated with one of her favorites Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) on his new record. On top of her music, Holly has a passion for fashion. She opened one of Nashville’s hottest retail spots in 2007, appropriately named H. Audrey, taken after her middle name from her grandmother Audrey Williams. Holly has boundless creative energy and she handpicks every piece of merchandise. Sheryl Crow, Patty Griffin and Gwyneth Paltrow are just a few of her biggest store fans. Though her retail venture has been wildly successful, just one listen makes it clear her first love is and always will be making music. She is currently writing and recording her 3rd album and hopes to release it in the fall of 2011.
“When it’s in the blood, you can’t help it”, Holly says. If there is one thing to say about Holly, this is an artist you will be hearing about for years to come…