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.
That’s #2. Willie Nelson, wanna be the 3rd?
I don’t know why you’d say that.
My heart is broken....Loved Don Williams.... :(
R.I.P
Today was a bad day in country music.
He had a voice as smooth as velvet and as rich as butter.
I’m not much of a country music fan, but I LOVED Don Williams.
Don had the smoothest baritone voice in country music. No one else like him. I had a chance to see him in Crockett, Texas about 8 years ago. None of the rock country crap we see today....just beautiful country music.
Wow. No kidding. I don’t even consider myself a big fan of the genre, but the two we lost today hit me pretty hard. Good memories of both!
RIP to the Gentle Giant.
Whenever I hear of a country legend passing, I always think of George Jones’, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”.
I think I might write one titled, “There ain’t no country anymore.” Think of the possibilities.
You placed gold on my finger
You brought love like I’ve never known
You gave life to our children
And to me a reason to go on
You’re my bread when I’m hungry
You’re my shelter from troubled winds
You’re my anchor in life’s ocean
But most of all you’re my best friend
When I need hope and inspiration
You’re always strong when I’m tired and weak
I could search this whole world over
You’d still be everything that I need
You’re my bread when I’m hungry
You’re my shelter from troubled winds
You’re my anchor in life’s ocean
But most of all you’re my best friend
You’re my bread when I’m hungry
You’re my shelter from troubled winds
You’re my anchor in life’s ocean
But most of all you’re my best friend
______________________________________
Beautiful song. Give it a listen!
Don Williams “You’re My Best Friend” (LIVE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdKx7CC-9RM&list=PLSDdBPYsGf-bEkdiB9bPpd3HbWg_AcXSJ
“Old Coyote Town,” best ever song about one’s old Dad.
Who sings or writes lyrics like that anymore??????
I’m not that big on country music but Don Williams was always a favorite.
Tulsa Time for my top pick of his nusic.
Wow. Sure describes my dear old dad. Thanks for posting that.
Don Williams - Old Coyote Town Lyrics | MetroLyrics
He’s got a US flag on his front porch to remind everyone where he lives
And up in the attic there are papers that prove the old house is finally his
After thirty five years the grass still don’t grow in that rock hard west Texas ground
Where my old dad still clings to that old coyote town
Like horses the pickups are parked out in front of a cafe that don’t need a name
Where the old men rock as the tumbleweeds roll
Pass the boarded up windows down Main
Waist high weeds hide a forsale sign at the drive-in where my innocence died
With a rusty advertisement dangling by a nail says popcorn and pepsi for a dime
And down at the depot where I left for good
There’s a hobo and his three legged hound
Waitin’ for a train that no longer comes to that old coyote town
And the interstate rumbles like a river that runs
To a rhythm that don’t ever slow down
As cars and trucks and time pass by that old coyote town
Daddy falls asleep in the living room on the sofa with the TV on
Sometimes he waits for a phone call from me sometimes he waits too long
But I still think of people and the place that he loves
How much longer will they be around
‘Til it’s aches to aches dust to dust for that old coyote town
Like horses the pickups are parked out in front of a cafe that don’t need a name
Where the old men rock as the tumbleweeds roll
Pass the boarded up windows down Main
And the interstate rumbles like a river that runs
To a rhythm that don’t ever slow down
As cars and trucks and time pass by that old coyote town
God bless that old coyote town
I can still hear the soft southern winds in the live oak trees
And Those Williams boys they still mean a lot to me,
Hank and Tennessee.
I guess we’re all gonna be what we’re gonna be,
So what do you do with good ol’ boys like me?
I only saw him alive once. But in the 70’s when I was berthing with first class Petty Officers on the Coast Guard Cutter Resolute we about burned out his album. I’ll play it ‘til the day I die.
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