Recordings from more than 40 years ago are unearthed by country music icon’s son, cleaned up and remastered.
Well, I do hope AUK readers will forgive this foray into mainstream country music, but we are honouring the legend that is Don Williams, nicknamed The Gentle Giant, not just because of his height but because he was indeed a gentle soul, who disliked the limelight, content to live his life simply and honourably with his wife and two children. But I get ahead of myself, Williams was born in 1939, the youngest of three sons, in Floydada, Texas. He was encouraged to follow his early musical interest by his mother, who taught him how to play guitar. He spent two years in the US Army Security Agency, and after being discharged (honourably), he helped to support his family at various jobs and co-founded the folk group with pop sensibilities, The Pozo Seco Singers. The group was modestly successful, but he went solo in the early 1970s, signed by Jack Clement to his Jack Records label. And there began one of the most successful country music careers, over a span of more than 40 years, before illness forced him to effectively give it up. He recorded well over 30 albums of gentle, mellifluous songs, either written by him solo or as co-writes, or some covers that gelled with his style of music. It became obvious as he built up a catalogue of hit singles and albums that he knew what represented a winning kind of music; over his entire work there is very little change to his musical style: great tunes, lovely songs, beautifully sung in his bass baritone voice and perfectly arranged with a combination of instrumental backing that was stable for most of his recordings: acoustic and mellow electric guitar, piano, fiddle, dobro or steel, and bass and drums. He chose not to sing songs about fighting, drinking, fast cars or marital infidelity. He once said, “I’ve never really done those things; they haven’t been a part of my life, so I guess I just don’t relate to them very well.” For a more detailed examination of Williams’ life, Alan Cackett’s excellent obituary can be found here.
Williams’ influence was underrated; he had devotees worldwide, starting in the UK with Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend, both of whom recorded his songs. The tribute concerts in Nashville were curated by Keith Urban, a superfan, and the tribute album in 2017 included performances by Chris Stapleton, Keb Mo, Jason Isbell, John Prine, Pistol Annies, and Brandy Clark, amongst other more country-centric artists. Any number of artists recorded his songs, some of the more famous ones such as Tulsa Time, I Believe in You, and Lord I Hope This Day is Good, as well as a number of less well-known but equally good songs. And therein lies the legacy of Williams: his songs were largely about a very focused range of subjects that resonated with listeners and allowed him to deliver one fine song after another to his fanbase that reached global proportions.
Williams died in September 2017 after giving up touring in early 2016 due to ill health.
As it happened, Williams had recorded a few songs during his prime recording period, 1979—1984, that were discovered by his son Tim after 30 years in storage. These were songs that didn’t make it onto an album, not, as you might discover, because the quality was not there, but because they didn’t quite fit the vibe of a particular album. Amazingly, Williams’ voice remains perfectly intact, but Garth Fundis, Williams’ longtime producer and orchestrator of the original recordings, had to find some musicians to ‘clean up’ the arrangements and instrumental backing. He found a number who were around for the original recordings, and as a consequence of the remastering, Williams’ signature sound was maintained for the twelve songs that go to make up Epilogue – The Cellar Tapes, which is released this month on CD, digital formats and a variety of coloured vinyl offerings, including standard black.
Do the songs stand up? Without question, they do. For the most part, they are a continuation of the familiar songs that adorned his earlier records. Songs about love, lost love, love found, unrequited love, second chance at love and missed opportunities for love. To be honest, you could probably take an inspired guess at the lyrics from the song title. So how do you rate a Don Williams album? The voice is totally intact, the lovely tone and the slight changes of intonation, and the arrangements are faultless. The session players are a selection of the best in the business, many of them just perfectly on point, underselling themselves in the service of the song and the voice. Take your pick of Lloyd Green or Russ Pahl on steel, Charles Cochrane on piano and keys, Buddy Spicher or Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Jimmy Colvard or Barry ‘Bird’ Burton on guitar, Kenny Malone or John Gardner/Steve Turner on drums, and Joe Allen or Dave Pomeroy on bass. With Williams on acoustic guitar. And there is a wonderful turn by Danny Flowers on chug-a-lug harmonica on the album’s standout track, one of two covers, Rodney Crowell’s Leavin’ Louisiana in the Broad Daylight, taken at a faster lick than Williams normally sings at.
I’m The One has an original and an alternate version; it’s a song about the guy who always leaves the relationship, surprised that this time he is the one who is left behind. Goldy’s Gone from Golden is the story of the high school golden couple whose relationship falls apart due to the girl’s city life ambition. I Wish I Was Crazy Again describes a man whose past life is now just wishful thinking in the light of his subsequent domestication. Bob McDill was a writer who provided several of Williams’ hit songs. Here, Williams does his usual cool job on How Can I Miss What I Never Had, where he figures his love was pretty one-sided, and he might be better off without the girl. Layng Martine Jr’s Try Me Again is a nice starter, and Williams’ own Growing On Me is a satisfactory closer, as he describes a love on a slow fuse.
Your humble writer mentioned relatability earlier, and that is what you get with Williams’ albums. For many years, this relatability wafted right over my head, and Williams was largely background music, but dang me, if this old music lover is not drawn to this really very good album, with top marks going to son Tim and Garth Fundis for putting together these songs from the old tapes found in the cellar and creating something calming and peaceful to listen to in these troubled times.
