Review: The Highway - Holly Williams

Another song on the Nashville Indie Spotlight CD was 'Without You' by Holly Williams.  I really loved  the story and lyrics of the song, along with the music. So, after that, I downloaded and Introduction from Noisetrade (you can read an interview here) and a studio session from Daytrotter. (Sean Moeller has written a beautiful post about Drinkin'. The Noisetrade session has an awesome cover of Tom Waits song Hold On.

I guess if you play the 'sound like' game, you may come up with names like Emmylou Harris or Sarah McLachlan, and you'd most likely find the CD in a country section, but her sound crosses over a few genres, and she's creating her own niche.

What I really enjoy about her music is the authenticity in her voice. You are taking the ride with her as she shares stories from her heritage about her family and her own journey.  A number of the songs bring her family to life: Waiting on June, Gone Away from Me, Drinkin' and Railroads.

Without You tells of her time travelling through Europe on a train, and her love for being on the road is also clear on the track 'The Highway', and I can kind of relate to that.

After reading more about the album I read that its Gywneth Paltrow singing the beaut harmony on Waiting on June (one of the songs which talks about her maternal grandmother).

I think my favourite line on the CD is on A Good Man, where she sings that 'Love is not as simple as it seems, But I have learned to trust the space between '. That line speaks volumes about the nature of love.

As you listen to the album her world comes alive, and its clear to me this is what she was meant to do to tell stories about real people and enable us to connect with ourselves as she does. Hopefully 'the highway' will bring her to Australia, and we'll be able to hear her share these (and hopefully other stories) from her life.

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Holly is not only a singer songwriter she's also talking about a cooking show, and also has a blog where she talks about fashion, travel, cooking and music. Here's the link. I'm keen to look at the food section.