All Photos: Alan Mercer
Photos taken at Lola's Trailer Park Saloon in Fort Worth, Texas
Zane Williams is an anomaly in today’s country music scene, a modern-day “throwback” who is equal parts bar-room entertainer and introspective poet. Zane was a finalist in three categories at MerleFest's Chris Austin Song Contest, claiming top slots in both the Country and General categories. ‘Hurry Home’ was also selected as the $20,000 Maxell Song of the Year in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
Plain-spoken, down-home honesty has now become the calling card for Zane's career, landing him four #1 songs on the Texas radio charts, opening gigs with heroes like George Jones and Alan Jackson, and even an invitation to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in 2015.
The genuine quality of his music is no fluke. In a world where most popular music is created by committee, Zane writes the vast majority of his songs alone, whenever the inspiration strikes. Early on, neither Zane nor his family would've guessed he one day would become the standard-bearer for traditional country music that he is today.
Born in Abilene, TX, to a pair of college professors, Zane was moved as a child first to Kentucky, then West Virginia, and then California as his parents pursued their academic careers. While he enjoyed singing harmony in church and composing his own instrumental pieces on the family piano, it wasn't until he turned sixteen and got the car keys (and control of the radio inside) that he had his first transformative experience with country music.
"I'm flipping stations and I land on Bob Kingsley's Country Countdown one Sunday morning after church, and I hear this guy Garth Brooks singing "The Dance." Not long after, his parents bought him a used guitar as a reward for good test scores, and Zane began trying his hand at writing his own songs. He was as surprised as anyone to find he had a knack for turning a phrase and telling a story in song. Still, a career in country music seemed far-fetched, so he followed his parents' advice and enrolled as a math major at Abilene Christian University. By the time he walked across the stage four years later to accept his diploma, his hobby had blossomed into a passion, and he moved to Nashville in 1999 to pursue music full time.
Music City, where co-writing was like shaking hands and pop influences dominated the trends, proved to be a poor fit for a tradition-loving young man who did his best work independently. In 2006, Zane released his first studio album ‘Hurry Home,’ the title track of which later became a top-20 Billboard hit for then-Sony artist Jason Michael Carroll. Despite this success, his nine years in Nashville left Zane disillusioned with the state of the country music industry and dissatisfied with simply writing songs for other artists. So, in 2008 Zane left a staff-writer publishing deal to move back to his wife's hometown of McKinney, TX, start a family, and start his career over as an independent artist.
He quickly found in Texas a welcome home for his brand of honest, traditional country music. Four more independent records followed, each attracting a wider audience than the last. When Zane put together his first band at age 33, he was a decade older than most of the new artists on the scene, and much more experienced as a songwriter, yet his obvious love of performing and connecting with his fans infused his shows with a youthful passion. ‘Bringin' Country Back’ melds that passion with his hard-earned experience as a performer and producer to create his most confident work yet.
Alan Mercer: Zane, I discovered your music through social media. Do you notice that it helps your career?
Zane Williams: Yes, for sure. I don’t know if I’ve mastered its full potential yet. The blessing and the curse of the internet is that you can reach everybody but so can everybody else. The great thing is an independent artist like myself can reach the world-wide audience at the click of a button.
AM: That’s what I did.
ZW: The bad part is there is so much noise out there, it’s hard to figure out how to get people to pay attention and actually listen when we are all bombarded with so many different sources. It’s an adventure.
AM: What about songwriting? It must be more difficult to earn a living now that songs can be found for free.
ZW: I wasn’t making music in the 90’s, but from what I’ve heard from my buddies in Nashville, is they are bemoaning how tough things are. Somewhere I read there used to be 1200 professional songwriters in Nashville and now it’s down to 300.
AM: You were one of those songwriters for a while but it didn’t suit you, did it?
ZW: I moved to Nashville right out of college. I didn’t know the Texas music scene even existed then. All I knew was Alan Jackson and George Strait, major label deals and moving to Nashville to make Country music. I realized after seven or eight years that I didn’t do it the right way.
AM: What do you mean?
ZW: I’m not good at hanging out and getting connected and co-writing. I didn’t do any of that. I was isolated, which looking back was a mistake. I didn’t have anybody to tell me these things. No one in my family has ever been in the music business so nobody could explain it to me.
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AM: What were you doing wrong?
ZW: I was doing solo shows all around the country with my wife. While we were living in Nashville I hung out with my church group and my grandparents. I didn’t go see any music shows or do anything. After seven or eight years I realized a major label wouldn’t be a good fit for me.
AM: That must have been difficult to realize.
ZW: I thought maybe I should just be a songwriter and I did manage to get a publishing deal so I focused on songwriting for a couple of years. I went into an office every day to write songs. I just wasn’t happy. I love songwriting but I wasn’t happy writing songs for other people.
AM: What brought you back to Texas?
ZW: I pretty much had given up on the music business. I came back to Texas to get a real job and raise a family. If I wasn’t going to be in the music business there was no reason to live in Nashville. So that’s why we moved back, to be closer to family and raise our own family.
AM: So how did you get back into the music business?
ZW: Once I got here I discovered the Texas music scene. The local radio stations started playing some of my music. I started playing at local venues and doing it the way I originally thought you should do it.
AM: And how is that?
ZW: You start playing locally and local DJ’s play your music and you get a fan base that grows from there. You can still do this in Texas.
AM: This story reminds me of your song, ‘Overnight Sensation.” Is this what you based the song on?
ZW: Yes, I definitely lived every line in that song. It’s painfully true.
AM: Your songs are more authentically Country music.
ZA: Yes, since I write by myself, the easiest thing to come up with is to write something from my life. I do try to stretch myself beyond that.
AM: You are great at writing story songs too.
ZW: I love story songs. The story song lets me get out of myself and my own situation. You can write about anything. That’s one of the reasons I like story songs.
AM: You are also very good at conveying tenderness in your songs.
ZW: Yes, I’m a softie.
AM: In the best way. You also inject a lot of humor in your songs. One that I really like is ’99 Bottles.’
ZW: I had just moved back to Texas and was going to see local shows. I was seeing local bands that I had never heard of and they were getting good crowds and good shows. I was having fun. I was discovering the whole Texas Country Music scene. Some of the acts had these songs that were beer drinking anthems. The whole place would be singing along. I didn’t have a song like that.
AM: I can see how it would be smart to have a beer drinking song.
ZW: I grew up in the Church of Christ. None of my grandparents or parents drank. What did I know about writing a good beer drinking song? Then I remembered I did sing one beer drinking song while growing up, which was ’99 Bottles of Beer On The Wall.’ I thought if I could come up with a song where that was the chorus, then everybody could sing along. Then I thought about the old Hank Snow song, ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ and thought I could do that with all the different kinds of beer.
AM: It seems to me that would be a difficult song to write and memorize the lyrics. There are so many.
ZW: It was difficult to remember at first.
AM: Your latest release, ‘Bringin’ Country Back’ is such an enjoyable record. Are you happy with it?
ZW: Yes, I am happy with it. I think it’s real easy to listen to. I produced it myself and I’m not the world’s best producer.
AM: Any plans for your next record?
ZW: Yes, I’ve got a bunch of songs written. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to do this one. I don’t know if I’m going to get a co-producer or do it myself again. Budget is a big deal for the next one. I can’t assume I’m going to sell a bunch of CDs and get my money back anytime soon. I’m looking to make a cheaper record but keep the high quality.
AM: You can do it!
ZW: I’ve got a bunch of songs that lean towards Bluegrass. I’ve been toying with the idea of releasing an album or EP of an acoustic full band. My first album in 2006 was that way. I’m in the mood to do another one like that. I don’t know for sure yet. I haven’t figured out the music business. I may just release a single. I’ve never tried that before.
