During the AMA Conference last year, I was very impressed by a performance of Holly Williams. She's not at all what one would expect from the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and the granddaughter of Hank Sr. In fact, she is a very interesting counterpart to Hank III.

She's more influenced by Laura Nyro, and by Leonard Cohen, which, for a 25-year-old knockout who went to Brentwood Academy, are unusual influences, much less for someone who grew up a product of that lineage. But, as the artist points up in the conversation to come, she was not raised in the music business, and was more encouraged to be apart from it than a part of it.

She started late, but got right to it once she began. She caught the eye and ear of influential people and was on the road long before a deal coalesced, with idols in faraway places. She signed to Universal Records ultimately, and made a serious, beautiful record with Monroe Jones producing that centered around relationships of different kinds, and people in her life.

She's very earthy, and was very easy to talk to. Her forthcoming way might be disarming if she wasn't so friendly, but she is. She's got a lot going for her, and it will be very interesting to see, as she parts from Universal and seeks a new home and develops as a writer, who it is she becomes. She just had a bad car accident in March that still has her sister Hilary recovering in Memphis, so it is on that subject that our conversation begins. I think you'll be as taken with her as I am.  continue to interview