Ik ben meer aan die tijdloze stem van Chris Williams, maar gezien Steve Varney (Kid Reverie) het bij deze éne song houdt, kan ik er mee leven. De man heeft natuurlijk een prachtig timbre, helemaal passend bij het thema en de sfeer van dit nummer. En wat een vette Hammond die de onderliggende basis ervan vormt.
Something from Nothing verschijnt op 3 maart 2023 via Grey Sun Records.
Luister ook naar: Half A Mile Carolina
Ter Info
“Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. I’m still gonna care even if you won’t,” sings Kid Reverie in the opening line of the new Chris Williams and Kid Reverie single, “Warning Bell.” An acoustic guitar-driven groove, highlighted by swirling B3 organ fills, provides a comfortable bed for a devastating lyric.
“Sometimes folks just give up. No matter how hard you try to navigate all of their landmines, inevitably there is an explosion,” says Williams, who wrote the song’s first four lines before bringing in Kid Reverie, known off-stage as Steve Varney, to write a chorus from a little more distant perspective. “We set about working through this idea with just the first verse written. That verse came from a very personal place,” remembers Williams. “There were long discussions about our experiences with this topic that, for me, were very cathartic, yet too close to fully embrace expressing outwardly. Steve was able to seamlessly articulate our points as he quickly wrote out the chorus that followed those first four lines.”
“Chris referenced the intensity of my rock record that I did as Kid Reverie back in 2018 and I took it from there,” says Varney. “In the end, he loved how I sang it, so I just went ahead and did the vocals. It felt good to make a rock song again.” The resulting tune feels desperate and understanding at the same time; an urgent message punctuated by a redemptive, resolute guitar solo to counter the gut-wrenching refrain of “Please, please, whatever you do, don’t let me be like you.” “Steve has a remarkable way of arriving at a vocal expression for a needed moment,” says Williams. “His delivery matched that intensity.”
Chris Williams’ ability to weave different sounds into a seamless whole comes naturally. He grew up near Greensboro, North Carolina, and his father, Allen Calhoun, was a bluegrass musician who played a little bit of everything. Williams was playing banjo by the time he was ten, and he and his father traveled constantly to bluegrass festivals where his father played. Williams grew to be a big fan of New Grass Revival and their innovative ways of stretching traditional bluegrass in new directions. In his 20s and 30s, he played with rock bands and heavy metal bands, honing his instrumental chops and even taking the drums. He moved into jazz under the influence of Steely Dan’s Aja. Though he got away from music for a few years, he started buying recording equipment and eventually set out to make an album. When his father died in 2007, he started writing and collecting songs that he says grew out of a “confluence of personal stories and musical styles.” 2019’s The Farewell Tour, an album that wove bluegrass and folk and jazz together, was the result. A year later, Williams penned another set of songs for his 2020 release To Be Determined, an expansive journey into the Americana soundscape. Williams combines lyrical ingenuity with a gift for finding the just-right melodic vibes in which to wrap his words. As he says, “I am trying be true to myself and to articulate my truths in my music and lyrics. I listen carefully and deeply to the work of other artists and glean from them what I can that will help me express my own truths.”
