Music
Live from CMA Music Festival: Holly Williams
By JOE LEYDON
Sam Sisco
Cowboys & Indians: So when did you decide you wanted to follow your grandfather Hank Williams and your father, Hank Williams Jr., into the family business?
Holly Williams: [Laughs] Well, actually, I started writing songs when I was a little girl. But as a teenager, I didn't think about it very much because I wasn't writing at the time. I was doing local modeling jobs and wanted to be a clothing designer — and had a million-and-one other things that I was thinking about. But one afternoon after school, I picked up a guitar — we had one in the house and my sister had been playing on it. She taught me three chords while I was sitting on my beanbag chair, while Full House was playing on the TV. And right out of nowhere I started writing a song. From then on I just started writing like crazy.
C&I: And one thing led to another?
Holly: Sort of. But it took a while for me to get to a point where I wanted to sing the songs myself. First, I just wanted to get a publishing deal and be a songwriter for other people. But the songs started getting more personal, and I kind of grew into my voice more and fell in love with the performance part of it.
C&I: Is it true that, as you were growing up, your father really didn't talk much about music around the house?
Holly: Yes. Of course, we knew what he did for a living. It's not like he tried to keep it a secret from us.
C&I: So what did you talk about when he came home from a tour?
Holly: 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.
C&I: So how did you start your own career?
Holly: After my first album [The Ones We Never Knew] came out, I was touring, touring, touring non-stop. I had my website going, and it was all very organic. The first time I toured Europe, it was just me alone on stage with a guitar and going around on planes and trains with copies of my CDs in my backpack. So I was used to such a grassroots way of going about it. The marketing plan was pretty much to just go on tour and try to get some press. We weren't going for a single on the radio.
C&I: But you became more focused in your career after you and your sister survived a serious auto accident in 2006, correct?
Holly: That's right. After the wreck happened, I guess I became more aware of time and how quickly it passes. And how people don't have enough time in their day to look up every trade paper or songwriter magazine to find out about all the new artists. They turn on the radio and that's what they hear — that's how they find their music. So when the folks at my record label told me, "Holly, let's try for country radio," well, I figured that would be a good idea.
C&I: Do you remember when you fully realized what an impact your grandfather Hank Williams has had on music?
Holly: While I was growing up, I started listening to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and got turned on to all these songwriters. When I heard them talk about Hank, that's when I really began to appreciate who he was. Because, you see, while I was growing up, my dad was so famous that it kind of overshadowed my grandfather for me. I thought, "Oh, he was just some old guy who wrote a few songs way back in the day." But especially when I went to Europe, and I saw how many people there were huge fans of his — that really was an eye-opener for me. It really made me appreciate what a legend he was. And is.
• Official website: HollyWilliams.com
Issue: October 2009
