Holly Williams Sees the Light Through Her Grandfather's Struggles
Singer-songwriter Holly Williams says people are usually more familiar with a certain side of her grandfather, the late Hank Williams Sr. "You think of the loneliness and the drugs or whatever alcohol issues he was dealing with, and you think of this sad, tragic figure," she told me Monday morning (June 1) as we chatted about her upcoming album, Here With Me. "And he had all kinds of gospel songs and Christian songs that people don't really know about."
Specifically she was referring to a couple of lines from "Jesus Here With Me," a song on the album she wrote about a year and-a-half after she and her sister, Hilary, were injured in a serious car accident. She takes the listener back to that fateful day and admits, "The preacher tried to make me learn/So I memorized his favorite verse/But Hank's words they taught me everything."
"I got as much spiritual teaching out of Hank Sr.'s lyrics as I did about something I would have read about in church or growing up with the Bible," said Williams, who is the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. "I think there's a lot you can find in his lyrics even though it's from a person that's struggling. It's still relatable because we're all struggling. That was relating to that part of his lyrics. Maybe, hopefully, [that will] turn people on to that side of him also."
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
sunkie says:
Oh, I love the insight. Whitney you got to the heart of what Holly was trying to let all the listeners learn about her family. I am excited to hear her cd. Thanks again for letting the fans feel as if they are there with you on the interview.
RRick says:
I’m so glad that Holly is getting this wonderful support for her new album here at CMT. I’ve had the privilege of hearing it and there are a lot of well crafted songs. Sadly Holly’s style and the simple, rootsy production of this album won’t garner her much Top 40 radio airplay but fortunately there are a lot of folks who like Americana music who will dig it. Being the granddaughter of Hank Williams and five bucks will get you a plain coffee at Starbucks these days, but it won’t get you airplay on mainstream country radio…
RedMaZ says:
As someone who never listens to Mainstream Pop radio(including country), it really doesn’t matter to me if she is or isn’t played there. I guess it would be fine if she was played on Mainstream Pop radio(including country), but it’s not going to happen. Just as the blonde Pop crew of CU, TS, JH, and KP will never be played on Americana/Roots radio. Holly Williams is just one reason why these two industry/genres(Mainstream/Pop and Americana/Roots)should stay seperate. It’s not going to do any good to either if they were combined, especially Pop acts on Roots radio.
Edwenna says:
Just stay true to yourself and don’t let people who know little about you tell you what to do or how to act.
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