Little Rebellion Music

The Highway – Holly Williams (Georgiana Records, 2013)

The progeny of Hank Williams have had a somewhat waning effect on the shape of country music in recent years even though, in my less than humble opinion, they’ve gotten better as the years have marched on.

Holly Williams’ newest offering The Highway, is her third record and on it, she attempts to strike the balance between singer/songwriter material, more alt.country fare, and commercial country, and does it very well.

The album’s first track, ‘Drinkin’,’ gives a glimpse into Williams’ M.O. here as it seems to encapsulate a little bit of everything the album is about in a single song. The lyrics are a well-written tale of a broken relationship that sees Williams questioning her lover about his desire to leave despite all she’s done, beginning with ‘Why you drinkin’ like the night is young?’ The song’s ebb and flow dynamics are fantastic with drums, fiddle, and electric guitar fading in and out in all the right spots.

From here, we see Williams heading for more alt.country/Americana territory. ‘Gone Away From Me,’ ‘Railroads,’ and ‘Happy’ all have a sound reminiscent of Ryan Adams/Gillian Welch’s stripped down take on country music. ‘Railroads’ especially is a fantastic track with percussive guitars punctuating the chorus and adding some great texture.

‘The Highway’ is possibly the album’s centerpiece. With its singy ‘roll with me, roll with me’ hook in the chorus, it’s a travelogue of Williams’ life on the road. It’s a ballad, but with the bluesy tinges it conveys, it never feels sluggish and really showcases her vocal ability.

Holly Williams’ voice is an interesting one. She comes across as something of a honky-tonk chanteuse, slightly resembling what it might be like if Diana Krall sang country music. It’s clear in places, raspy in others, strong when it should be, but also vulnerable when it’s appropriate. But it’s always controlled and is easily identifiable. The breadth of her material gives her a lot more opportunity to showcase different vocal “moods” and she does them all well.

After ‘The Highway’ the track I found the most compelling was ‘Giving Up.’ A tale of a woman with alcohol problems that, in Williams’ estimation, is giving up on life, the lyrics force you to take a hard look at a problem that we’ve almost become pretty cavalier about until it hits too close to home.  ‘The doctor said you’d die if you had another drink / I wonder if it scares you / I wonder if you think / about the daughter that you’re leaving / or the man you used to love’ – Powerful stuff. That it’s sung in the first person, from the perspective of this troubled woman’s friend, makes you wonder if what you’re hearing is a true story or not as it seems almost voyeuristic listening to Williams’ attempts to make her friend come to her senses.

The album’s closing track, ‘Waiting On June,’ is sung from the perspective of a man (something Williams does on a couple tracks on The Highway and to great effect) who spends his life waiting on the girl of his dreams. He meets her and waits for her to notice him, waits for her answer to his proposal of marriage after coming home from WW2, waits for her to join him in Heaven, etc. It’s a “100 years told in 5 minutes” type of song, but  it’s so incredibly well written and Williams draws you in with such an emotive performance, that the 6:47 that the track lasts goes by in a flash, almost leaving you wanting more despite the fact that at the track’s end, there’s no more to tell. It’s a good example of the craft of songwriting as high art. She gives us a three act play in miniature that keeps us riveted, wanting to know what will happen next, and delivering the goods emotionally.

The one issue I have with The Highway is that several of the songs make you think to yourself, “Where have I heard this before?” Some of the melodies sound similar to melodies of other songs, but it’s difficult to put your finger on. It’s something that songwriters struggle with all the time, and it’s not a deal-breaker here, but it happened enough times that it made me wonder if Williams and whoever (if anyone) she wrote the songs with sat down and thought, “Let’s write our version of x song.” It’s also worth noting that it’s not all the songs, and that the best songs on the album are the ones that allow you to enjoy them without trying to think back to what it is they remind you of.

That aside, The Highway is a solid record that will hopefully bring Holly Williams further into the public consciousness, as she’s very deserving of it, least of all because she’s related to some famous names in country music. She stands well on her own, and rarely invokes the connection between her and the Hanks, which allows you to see her not as a member of a famous family, but as an artist with her very own perspective.

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Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.

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