Any serious discussion of disgustingly talented up-and-coming female singer-songwriters must include Holly Williams. In anticipation of her third album The Highway, out February 5 on her own Georgiana Records, Williams has teamed with NoiseTrade to offer a free downloadable sampler/preview consisting of one studio track and a handful of live acoustic versions of songs old and new. Really, the songs are mostly new, with a live cut of “Alone” (from 2009′s Here With Me) and a Tom Waits cover thrown in for good measure. The stripped-down setting and new material make the sampler equally strong as an introduction to the artist or as an enticing preview of her next record.
Like all NoiseTrade offerings, this can be had for the cost of an email address. But you can also throw in a tip if you’re the wealthy, appreciative sort.
Grab NoiseTrade’s Holly Williams: Introduction sampler here.
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A freelance writer and humorist with an abiding love of country music, C.M. Wilcox's cutting, clear-eyed take on the genre has drawn the attention of Country Weekly, The Washington Post, and The Tennessean in the years since this site began. He lives near Sacramento and can be reached by email at CMW (at) countrycalifornia.com.
Just wanted to second your recommendation for this. I grabbed it a few days ago when I got the Noisetrade email about it. Really good.
Noisetrade e-mailed me about this a couple of days ago, and I was debating whether I wanted to take it. I definitely will after this recommendation.