William Willard Jr. has a great desire - to make it big in country music.
He dresses the part with his big cowboy has, Wrangler shirt and jeans and cowboy boots. You know when you see and talk to him that he is country through and through. He also has the talent to back it up.
And now this Franklinville resident is getting a little national exposure, thanks to a CD of four songs that he has sent out to some major labels, including Capitol and Columbia in Nashville, TN. His first song from the CD, "Covered in Dew", is playing on stations across the country from North and South Carolina to New York and faraway Alaska.
"I've been singing sinse I was nine years old," Willard said. "I remember that I used to listen to the radio all the time and the first time I heard George Strait sing, I fell in love with music."
I don't want to sound like himbut I want to build my singing around him. Every song he puts out is a hit."
Pulling on childhood memories and life experiences, Willard has written approximately 100 songs."
He writes every chance he gets, whether it is while working on a roof, driving down the roadm or just sitting around the house. Bits and pieces of song lyrics just seem to flow through his head and he can't rest untils he writes them down, he said.
Willard, who is 33 years old and the father of Derek,15 and Ashley, 14, said that he was picking cotton and setting out tobacco plants for his grandfather in Candor at the age of 6. When he was 9, his family's home burned down. They lost everything and ended up in a one-room shack. He quit school at an early age.
"I came up very hard when I was young," he said, "so when I write, I write from the heart. A lot of people can say that they are a songwriter, but it is just a story if it's not coming from the heart."
"Covered in Dew" is one of those songs.
"It means more to me than any other song I have ever wrote," he added. "It was written about my childhood, about growing up."
"I think my songs have to come from the heart, because if I can't feel what I'm writing, it's no good."
Willard, owner of JR's Roofing in Ashboro, performs every Saturday night at Fiddler's Cove in Liberty, NC sometimes to standing-room only crowds. And he has recently learned to play the guitar to enhance his perfomances.
"I sing all the time, but never played an instrument until a few months ago and a guy named Chris Jobe got me to playing the guitar," he said. "once he taught me what to do, it was like the guitar was meant to be in my hand."
It's been said he sings from the time he gets up in the morning until he goes to bed at night. Everybody who hears him sing says they like his songs.
"I've been told that I am full of music," Willard said with a laugh.
Willard hopes to hear from a record label soon, but, in the meantime, is recording a 12 song CD that should be ready by December. Working with Will Gunnell ar Ratatat Sounds Recording Studio in Danville, VA, the CD will feature original songs, songs that are special to Willard.
"I've worked hard to get what I have and I want better and want to succeed," he said. "I remember when I was in 7th grade, my teacher, Mr. Smith, told me that I would never be a singer and I looked at him and told him that someday I'll be one."
"To do that, you have to love what you are doing. With me, it's a heart thing."
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