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There are few American classics these
days, but Don Williams is certainly one
of them. With a warm hickory baritone that
balances strength with a gentle concern,
he draws his listener into the intimate
world of an old friend, someone who cares
deeply about you and the quality of your
life ... and who will always offer a hand
when you need it.
"I don't think there's anything we have
to do daily in our walk that's more important
than how we deal with each other," Williams
confesses. "To me, it's everything. So when
you're looking for songs, if they can express
that, then you've found something special."Without
a doubt Williams, whose hits with the likes
of Good Ole Boys Like Me, I Believe In
You, Love Is On A Roll, Amanda and Tulsa
Time, have always had a knack for finding
songs that speak directly to people's hearts.
"When you first start making records, all
the songs are challenging and there's so
much to talk about," Williams begins, explaining
the challenges of maintaining one's artistic
commitment a quarter of a century into a
solo career. "But after you've done it for
a while, it's hard to revisit the same places
and still be believable."
"The longer you do it, the harder it becomes
to do things that aren't just an echo of
something you've already done. Of course,
when you do lock into it, the fact that
you've lived all those years and seen so
much allows you to bring a lot of things
to the song you couldn't have when you were
starting out."For Don Williams, trying to
address the simple pleasures and the things
that should last has always been his stock
in-trade. And he's also always been something
of an iconoclast in a town known for its
assembly line approach to making music.
Williams recalls, "Back when I was on JMI
Records several industry people really liked
what I was doing but they also said it would
never work ... it's too laid back."What
those people forgot is that country music
is built on real emotions, real songs, real
moments in people's lives. Don Williams
is a subtle master of all of those things,
deftly inhaling tenderness and concern into
some of the best lyrics and melodies ever
created.
And his commitment to the songs never flags.
"What it is, is simple: I want the best
songs possible. I don't look at songs as
just singles or who the publisher is - I
look at what it's trying to say, how it
feels. Then when they're picked out, I want
to treat them all the same. I want to make
them as special as I can."
"Ideally,
whether I'm in the studio or on stage, I'm
totally into the story, or if there's no
story, that emotion, that feel of what I'm
doing at that moment is the only thing I
want to experience."
"After a day in the studio or a show, the
energy I've used just wears me out and if
you're not 100% there, that's even worse.
There's nothing more trying than not being
completely there!"
For the man who got his professional start
with the Pozo Seco Singers, who hit with
Time in the mid-60s, there's no greater
sin than not being completely committed
to the songs he's entrusted with. As he
says with an earnestness that stops you
in your tracks, "There's just the emotion.
There's the right emotion - and then it's
over."
Simple. Direct. To the point. Exactly the
things that have made Don Williams' music
so compelling - and that's helped him build
an international audience in places one
can't imagine country music ever being more
than a curiosity. Yet for Don Williams,
he's popular in far-flung places like Zimbabwe,
Australia, England, Monaco, Finland and
Brazil as he is in his native America.
"I couldn't have picked anything for the
South African culture or the English culture,"
Williams explains. "We're all made of the
same stuff - and when we're dealing with
one another, we're all on the same plane.
I've been fortunate that when I've picked
material, there's always been a universality
to what I want to sing and what other people
feel."
"It's pretentious to think that you can
speak for anyone else, but I work very hard
to align myself with the average person
who's never been in a studio or sat down
with a number of writers to hear their songs.
Those are the people I make music for, not
Nashville so much, and I think it's served
me well."
Enlisting the help of his accomplished road
band, Williams creates the kind of music
that speaks to everyone. There's a broken-in
familiarity among his players that can't
be created merely by charts and musicians
- and those lived-in grooves fit Williams
like the custom-Stetson hat he's know for.
"Everybody knows from me on the road that
when they're doing their job well, I hear
nothing," Williams says, explaining the
subtle musical web his band spins. "It's
the emotion of what we're doing is all that
I hear. Nothing sticks out. Nothing jars
me."
"That lets me get to the inside of the song.
When that is working right, there's nothing
but that (song's) feeling, and I can focus
completely on that. If you can create that,
then you've done a good job."
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