CAPITAL NEWS Speaks to Warren H Williams
LOOKING OUT
Words & photos by John Elliott
Winning a Golden Guitar for Bush Ballad of the Year in January with JOHN WILLIAMSON and AMOS MORRIS was a good sign for WARREN WILLIAMS.
Along with the coveted Golden Guitar this year Warren has married his sweetheart Heidi, and this month sees the release of his brand new album Looking Out with ABC Music.
The past five years have been a bit of a blur for Warren. He and Heidi recently calculated Warren had spent only eleven months at home over the five years. Most of the time was spent touring the length and breadth of Australia with his mate John Williamson.
The story of how Warren and Willo became friends and collaborators is an unusual one. Warren was born at the remote community of Hermannsburg about 120kms west of Alice Springs. He is an Arrernte speaking man and up until the mid 1990s had lived mostly in Central Australia. Having grown up surrounded by country music it seemed natural to follow in his father Gus’s footsteps and sing country music. He was making a new album and an event happened that would change his life.
“I’d never had any contact with John Williamson at that stage. I’d seen him on television but that was it”, Warren told me.
“Graham Archer from CAAMA Radio played me Willo’s Raining On The Rock. It didn’t really get me but when I started singing along it really made sense. It was about me, about my land and about who I am.”
Graham suggested that Warren record Raining On The Rock and also to ask John Williamson if he would sing on the recording. Williamson said yes and the rest is history.
Warren’s first serious visit to Tamworth was in 1994. “I had given up drinking and I was drying out then,” Warren said. “I knew I was going to do something with my music. I wasn’t going to be one of these people who keep coming back to Tamworth every year and not getting anywhere. I always knew that one day I would have a big go at it.”
A very nervous Warren Williams received a standing ovation on his second visit to Tamworth in 1998 when John Williamson joined him on stage at the Golden Guitar Awards to perform Raining On The Rock.
Over the years of touring Warren and John have become good friends. “We are brothers, we know each other’s secrets. I’ve seen John at his worst, and when he was low down I was there for him, and he has been there for me.
“We all thought that Raining On The Rock would be a novelty thing, black fella and white fella singing a song. It surprised everyone. It was just a bonus track on one of my CDs. It became a big hit for me. It changed my life forever.”
Warren’s life wasn’t the only one that changed. The partnership with Warren also sparked a new direction in John Williamson’s song writing. Up until then John’s songs told the Australian story through his huge cast of characters. After getting to know Warren John Williamson was writing more about country, almost from an Aboriginal viewpoint of their connection to country.
The birth of Warren’s new album Looking Out is even stranger than Warren’s story of hooking up with John Williamson.
“The album started out in the city”, Warren told me. “I remember sitting in my motel room in the middle of Sydney, looking out and missing home. After all those years on the road I felt like going home for a rest. My new wife and a baby were back at Hermannsburg and here I was in the city missing my family.
“I find inspiration in the city. Its funny but I can write country songs in the city, bizarre really. Most of the songs are about being away and looking forward to the journey home.”
Fans will be surprised to hear that Warren wrote many of the songs on keyboard. “I’m a guitar player but I like keyboard as well and some of the songs have a bit jazzier feel than some of my earlier stuff.”
Warren’s country music roots come from his dad, the legendary bush balladeer GUS WILLIAMS. He is quick to acknowledge the role played by his mother in his musical upbringing.
“Mum is one of my biggest musical influences. She taught me to play bass. My dad kept me busy with music and mum was a big inspiration.”
Once Warren had written the songs he called on STEVE NEWTON, another mate from the road, to collaborate on the recording. Steve Newton is John Williamson’s sound and recording engineer and had always been there on the sound desk every night when John and Warren entertained Australian crowds.
Steve had already mixed two of Warren’s earlier albums.
“I volunteered to get involved from the start”, Steve said. “I heard Warren writing many of the songs on the road. I just fleshed out his arrangements - they were all there in the demos. I gave him what he wanted. It was a real collaboration. We pretty much nailed what Warren wanted. Over the years we had many hours of deep and meaningful conversations along the road so working together came naturally.”
Asked to describe the exciting sound of Warren’s new album Steve didn’t hesitate, “Funk grass, it’s definitely funk grass”. When I questioned Steve about the surprising sound of brass on a couple of tracks he almost dismissively responded “MERLE HAGGARD did it years ago”.
Warren had a slight calypso feel on earlier recordings so we shouldn’t be too surprised by the funk groove/funk grass feel that seems to match up perfectly with his unique voice on Looking Out.
Warren has spent most of 2009 home at his beloved Hermannsburg, catching his breath, enjoying time with his wife and family. “I’m excited and nervous about my new release. I’ve been working all my life for this.”
When most labels are dropping artists, Warren is thrilled to be with ABC Music. “I’m out in the middle of nowhere, about as far away as you can get, and I get to sign with a major label.”
Warren still has to pinch himself to make sure it is all real. “I watch ABC Television and I think ‘wow’! I’m part of all that. I like phoning Tim at ABC Country – he and the girls at the record company are excited too, makes me feel good.
“I’ve worked so hard to get where I am. I know in my heart this album will connect with the audience. It’s the same feeling I had when I recorded Raining On The Rock.
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