Joy Williams Releases Two New Songs, Gets Back To Roots

In the wake of the seemingly sudden dissolution while their ascent to superstardom (well, as much superstardom as a nebulous root genre can afford) Americana duo The Civil Wars’ Joy Williams and John Paul White went their separate ways each gravitating to the sounds they explored before uniting in 2008. White to the sparse, gritty side of the tracks his 2016 release “Beulah,” and Williams to the pop side, albeit with a world music bent, on her 2015 solo outing ‘Venus.”

Two newly-released tracks, from Williams’ anticipated new album ‘Front Porch,’ shows her sonically tracking more closely to the path that led The Civil Wars to acclaim. This might be helped along by Milk Carton Kids’ Kenneth Pattengale taking the production helm.

As a sweet side note, Williams worked on ‘Front Porch’ in Nashville while pregnant with her second child. She gave birth to a daughter, Poppy Louise, over the summer.

‘Canary, the more rootsy of the two cuts, is a haunting Gohic-tinged cut of cautioning and resolve.Williams is in fine form here and is in great voice and appears reinvigorated being accompanied with the rustic strings oh acoustic guitar, upright bass, and fiddle.

Joy Williams – Canary (Live)

‘The Trouble with Wanting’ is a guitar-driven lover’s lament featuring glistening harmony by her backing band. The song ebbs and flows in rhythm with William’s expressive sways, as if the music is running through her and aching to be shared.

Joy Williams – The Trouble with Wanting (Live)

From the presser: Produced by Kenneth Pattengale of The Milk Carton Kids and engineered by Matt Ross-Spang, Front Porch represents a new chapter in Williams’ career, who recorded the album in Nashville during the pregnancy of her second child. She reflects, “There is an energy that is very creative in having a baby. It gives a sense of urgency on top of all the creative energy. Cellularly, your body is experiencing something really different. Everything you are feeling is elevated. And you have a time-stamped sense of urgency.” Already receiving critical acclaim, Rolling Stone states the new music, “…is both familiar and new, and explicitly clear that there’s nothing missing when she goes it alone.”

“So much of this is about coming home,” says Williams. “Whether to a physical place or to yourself. The lines on my face, I can see them more clearly now. But a lot of them are laugh lines. This record feels like breathing more deeply into who I am. Come what may.”

I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

Joy Williams Tour Dates:

November 1—Birmingham, AL—Workplay
November 2—Athens, GA—The Foundry
November 16—St. Louis, MO—Blueberry Hill Duck Room
November 17—Chicago, IL—Old Town School of Folk Music
November 18—Indianapolis, IN—White Rabbit Cabaret
November 30—Cincinnati, OH—20th Century Theater
December 1—Louisville, KY—Headliners Music Hall
December 2—Lexington, KY—The Burl
December 7—Austin, TX—3TEN at ACL Live
December 8—Dallas, TX—The Kessler Theater
December 9—Houston, TX—The Heights Theater