(From left, Holly and Becky perform the song at CMT’s Unplugged at Studio 330.)
“Mama” is currently available as a free download on amazon.com, an example of a spreading practice throughout the music industry. For instance, Coldplay is currently allowing fans to download their live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft, on the band’s website.
“I’m a huge supporter of (the trend),” Williams said. “I’m also a big fan of Radiohead; they’ve done this for a long time and had so many different options to get their music for cheaper, for free; so, for me, it’s not about the money, it’s about getting heard.”
Brothers and sisters, are you listening? Say Holly-lujah!
While Williams kicks it up a notch with honky-tonk numbers that would even please Big Daddy Bocephus, that doesn’t mean her tender, inspirational touches are missing. The sad, sad songs that made Hank Sr. such a legend are here, too, as Williams strikes a delicate balance between heartache (“Alone”) and desire (“Three Days In Bed”). Her gorgeous lead vocals pack a powerfully emotional punch.
The most poignant track might be “Without Jesus Here With Me,” reflecting on the near-fatal 2006 car accident involving Holly and her sister Hilary. It’s raw and intensely personal, and directly references Hank Sr., considered by some to be the father of country music.
“That verse (The preacher tried to make me learn / I memorized his favorite verse / But Hank's words they taught me everything / Thank God I saw the light for me) was kind of referring to ... so many people know Hank (Sr.) as the drugs and pills and sad-songs guy,” Williams said. “And even my dad has brought up how much humor he had; his friends who knew him said he was really funny and he had a lot of light in him that people don’t know about.
“He wrote so many songs, with ‘I Saw The Light’ and ‘When God Comes And Gathers His Jewels,’ a lot of church-based and gospel-based songs that people kind of pass by. His words in ‘I Saw the Light’ and some of the songs are just as powerful as a Bible verse.”
Article comments
1 - schridla
I heard some of the songs on her first album and thought they were OK. What I've heard from the new one, she plays a couple on the Unplugged show on CMT, sound pretty good, but I'd like to hear them with a full band. Looking forward to the album, though.
2 - ashley
Wow. Very good. Can't wait to listen to the album. It would be interesting to hear what Neil Young thinks of her work.