Holly Williams - Biography

Biography

Raised in Nashville, Tennessee, she is the granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr., the daughter of Hank Williams, Jr., and the half-sister of Hank Williams III. Holly's mother, Becky, is a native of Mer Rouge, Louisiana, and was married for ten years to Hank Williams, Jr. She was born in Cullman, Alabama, and has an elder sister named Hilary. Her parents separated when she was young. At age 17, Holly began playing one of her father's guitars, and soon began writing songs.

Williams graduated from Brentwood Academy and decided to pursue her passion of songwriting and continue playing guitar and piano. She bought her domain name, recorded an ep, started a fansite, and booked herself all over Nashville. Soon after signing with CAA, she performed hundreds of shows throughout the US and usually toured alone with a guitar and keyboard driving cars across the country. Eventually she began touring throughout Europe and the United Kingdom and building a loyal fan base there. After the release of her first EP in 2003, she signed with Universal South Records and toured with Billy Bob Thornton, Jewel, Train, Keith Urban, and Kasey Chambers among other artists. Universal South released her debut album, The Ones We Never Knew, in 2004. This album garnered Williams much critical acclaim and she headlined shows in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Spain, Australia, Wales, Ireland, and the US.

In March 2006, Williams was injured in a near-fatal car crash with her sister and canceled an upcoming European tour through Austria and Germany, this is when she started thinking of opening a clothing boutique. Her arm was injured and she wasn't sure how well she would heal to play the guitar. She wrote "Without Jesus Here With Me" about her experience during the time of the car accident. During the Christmas season Holly joined the stage with Daniel Lanois and Brady Blade at the Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana for a cover of Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl". She also joined John C. Reilly in Nashville, Tn to sing "Let's Duet" during the release of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story on December 9, 2007.

Soon after she signed with Luke Lewis at Mercury Records. Williams' second studio album, Here with Me, was released in June 2009. To promote the album, Williams appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Chelsea Lately and other television outlets. People Magazine named Williams' 2009 album "one of the top ten albums of the year". Billboard said it was "one of the best singer/songwriter albums to come out of Nashville". USA Today said "there's purity and potency of her milk and whiskey kissed singing". Williams finished a six week tour in Europe in early 2010, and continued the rest of the year touring with John Hiatt. She took a great deal of time off of the road to begin writing for her next album. After Bob Dylan called, Holly added her own music and lyrics to a half written Hank Williams Sr. lyric for a project entitled "The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams" that he assembled, released in September 2011. Jack White, Norah Jones, Merle Haggard and Lucinda Williams were alongside Holly for this project.

Holly was also a part of "Let Us In", a project produced by Phil Madeira which includes artists singing their favorite Paul McCartney songs in tribute of Linda McCartney. Holly performed "My Love" from the Wings era. Steve Earle and Buddy Miller are also included on the album, among others. CMT just completed a taping of Holly performing this song that is set to air during release week sometime in Spring of 2013.

Holly has been featured on the soundtrack for Flicka in 2006 singing "Rodeo Road', written by Tom Douglas and Chuck Cannon. Tim Mcgraw (who starred in Flicka) named Holly, The Fray and Coldplay as his favorite artists in Oprah magazine saying "She has the ability to make you believe what she says, to make you feel vulnerable. She's intense and moody; she puts you in a time and place where you never would have imagined yourself—and then you're there". Mel Gibson met with Holly in Nashville and featured her on The Passion of The Christ soundtrack singing "How Can You Refuse Him Now", written by her grandfather.

Holly's new album,"The Highway", co-produced by Holly and Charlie Peacock (The Civil Wars) is set to be released Feb. 5, 2013. This album includes Dierks Bentley, Jakob Dylan, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jackson Browne adding backing harmonies. Holly's touring schedule will be announced soon, and a UK release is slated for June 2013. She recently played at the Southern Ground food & music festival created by Zac Brown. You can read more about Holly, her passion for food and lifestyle at her blog www.theafternoonoff.com.

Williams also owns H. Audrey, a high end women's boutique located in Nashville that carries designers such as Helmut Lang, Rag & Bone, and J Brand jeans. Her store has been featured in Vogue, Elle, Southern Living and Lucky Magazine. Faith Hill, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson, Jessica Simpson, Patty Griffin and Robert Plant have been spotted here. The upstairs gallery at her store carries iconic music photographs from her favorite photographers including Henry Diltz, Pattie Boyd and Jim Marshall.