Album Notes

The album is comprised of songs that walk a perfect line between the sweet and bitter, and the sentimental and cynical, and is perfectly bookended by the opening track, “The Ballad of Benson Creek,” and the finale, Williams’ own earnest version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.” The eleven performances are carried out by an impressive trio of multi-instrumentalists, including accomplished singer/songwriter and co-producer Peter Mulvey (Signature Sounds Recording), Dan McMahon (Wandering Sons), along with Williams on vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar and piano.

On this compelling debut the Milwaukee-based singer/songwriter “boasts a voice that sounds several decades older than he actually is, lending his songs of love and loss a gravity they might not otherwise possess” and “never slips into blandness or forces the quiet drama” [The Onion].

Williams grew up with a guitar in his hands, performing from an early age in cafés, bars, and eventually rock clubs throughout his home state of Wisconsin and around the Midwest. He hit the ground running with a ‘64 Gibson that his mother bought at a garage sale, listened hard to everything from the Beatles to Buckley, and somewhere along the way began to write the tunes that would become his own voice.

His live shows have been described as having “...everything you could hope for... message, melody, and hooks” (Vital Source), and feature his facile guitar and thoughtful, distinctive tenor (imagine the honeyed side of Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar’s earthy grit and the playfulness of Sam Cooke). In little clubs and smoky bars around the Midwest, armed with memorable songs and engaging charisma, Hayward Williams is quietly building both a following and a career the old-fashioned way, one night at a time.

For more info please visit: www.haywardwilliams.com and www.myspace.com/haywardwilliams