Posted on 09/08/2017 4:05:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Don Williams, who began a long career in country music as a Nashville songwriter in the early 1970s and who entered the Country Hall of Fame in 2010, died today following a short illness at his home in Alabama, a publicist confirmed to NPR. He was 78.
Williams topped country charts with regularity through the '70s, in songs characterized by an easygoing, Sunday-afternoon air and delivered with a smooth voice that walked the seam of a porch-front baritone and stage-ready tenor. The sentiment that drove much of Williams' country was a rakish positivity, best remembered in his biggest song, 1981's "I Believe In You":
"Well, I don't believe that heaven waits / For only those who congregate / I'd like to think of God as love / He's down below / He's up above / He's watchin' people everywhere / He knows who does and doesn't care / And I'm an ordinary man / Sometimes I wonder who I am / But I believe in love."
Born in Texas in 1939, Williams began playing guitar as a teenager, and played in various groups around Portland, just across the bay from Corpus Christi. After a move to Nashville around 1969, Williams began penning songs for another country legend, "Cowboy" Jack Clement, and his newly formed JMI Records in 1971. Three years later, Williams was a recording artist in his own right, topping the country chart with "I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me," properly kicking off his career and becoming a regular fixture on those charts from then on. (By 1980, his footprint had grown such that he played himself, and performed his own songs, in the Burt Reynolds vehicle Smokey and the Bandit II.)
In a time of volume and digital precision, his smooth, salt-of-the-earth recordings are a respite. In early 2016, Williams announced it was "time to hang my hat up and enjoy some quiet time at home. I'm so thankful for my fans, my friends and my family for their everlasting love and support." Not more than a year later Williams' legacy spurred a tribute album, The Gentle Giant, featuring covers of his songs by Garth Brooks, Keb' Mo', Chris Stapleton and Trisha Yearwood, among others.
Williams is survived by his wife Joy, songs Gary and Timmy, three grandsons and one granddaughter.
OK, OK. Garth Brooks will be the 3rd. Happy now?
Thanks and...Amen.
It’s hard for me to pick a fave. A fun song of his I always enjoy hearing is LOOZIANNA SATURDAY NIGHT (Sic). “...Git down the fiddle and git down the bow; kick off yer shoes and throw em on the floor...”
“Yellow Moon” Always softens my heart.
A favorite. I saw him in concert...
Good Ole Boys like Me.
Best Don Williams song ever
Don Williams was the real McCoy.
Ha, that’s a Mel McDaniel song. Good song none the less.
Don Williams like many singers of the past could actually sing without auto tune unlike many of the new “talent” on “country” stations.
So many unique voices there once was.
My favorite Don Williams song.
I was able to hear him twice in concert - the first time was at the Bama Theater here in Tuscaloosa. The second time was just before he retired, over in Georgia. Going to hear him in person was like being invited into his den, or to sit on his back porch. He was very personal, very engaged with his audience.
“By the light of the radio by my bed, with Thomas Wolfe whispering in my head”
RIP.
Awesome story. He had the smoothest voice and his simple illustrations really embraced growing up in the South. Wish I could have seen him perform. He’s a legend and one of my favorites. So much different than the Hick-pop garbage Nashville promotes today.
Some Broken Hearts Never Mend
Coffee black, cigarettes,
start this day, like all the rest,
First thing every morning that I do,
Is start missing you
Some broken hearts never mend,
Some memories never end,
Some tears will never dry,
My love for you will never die
Rendezvous in the night,
A willing woman to hold me tight,
But in the middle of love’s embrace,
I see your face
Some broken hearts never mend,
Some memories never end,
Some tears will never dry,
My love for you will never die
He was my favorite country singer ever. I have all his albums.
Why was he in Alabama
He had a farm across the river at Bells Bend off that dead end part of Old Hickory boulevard by the old ferry that’s closed
It’s a rural part of Nashville that’s in close but inaccessible
Maybe his children’s?
There’s no “story” in most of what are called “country” songs any more. My dad and I were talking about this a few weeks ago - his favorite is Willie Nelson. (Going to hear him in a few weeks here - not the same as 30 years ago, unlike DW who never lost his voice.)
Today’s music — something about pickup truck, short skirt, wash rinse repeat = “hit song”.
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