Holly Williams photo by Autumn de Wilde, courtesy of Mercury Nashville.
That one year turned into three with Holly playing shows by herself and with a small band. Following a three-month stay in Los Angeles where she honed her songwriting skills and mastered the piano as a second instrument, Holly accepted an offer to tour Europe with Canadian artist Ron Sexsmith.
"I flew over there with a guitar and a backpack full of five-song EPs I'd made and took trains to each venue," says Holly. "It was killer. I had just read Jack Kerouac's novel "On The Road," and it changed me. I was traveling along, soaking up every minute of it. I loved it."
Around this time, Holly began to realize the full meaning of her family's history in the music world. Though her father is country legend Hank Williams, Jr., Holly's time spent with her dad mostly took place when he was off the road and away from the spotlight. In turn, Holly never realized the influence of her grandfather Hank Williams, Sr. until she embarked on her own musical explorations.
"The artists that I love are the ones that brought me back to him. When I started making music and writing songs, I heard people like Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen talk about Hank Sr. I started listening to Bob Dylan, and he would talk a lot about Hank Sr. being an influence. It's funny how that circle happened."
Over the next few years, Holly's touring kept her on the road for months at a time with several more European tours rounding out her hectic stateside touring schedule. Sometimes driving up to 10 hours between gigs in her mom's suburban, Holly found herself sharing a bill with a wide range of artists including Billy Bob Thornton, Train, John Mellencamp and Duncan Sheik, in addition to playing a string of shows throughout Europe opening for Keith Urban. With five years of independent touring under her belt, Holly signed her first record deal in 2004 and released her critically-acclaimed debut album, The Ones We Never Knew, that same year.
With her career on the upswing, Holly's life was almost cut short when she and her sister Hilary were involved in a devastating wreck near Memphis in March 2006. Hilary's injuries were much more extensive than Holly's, and both were in critical condition by the time their parents arrived at the hospital. Looking back on the accident, Holly is truly thankful she and her sister survived. The events of that day forever changed the course of Holly's life and serve as the inspiration for one of Here With Me's most stirring tracks, "Without Jesus Here With Me."
"Living through that wreck was a miracle," Holly declares. "My sister told me one mile before it happened to put on my seatbelt. I usually never would have put it on, but it saved my life. Even the fact that my arm is here is a miracle. The car was lying on top of it. We landed sideways and they thought when they pulled me out of the car that my arm wouldn't be going with me. But it was only broken. The whole experience was a real turning point for me."
