Holly Audrey Williams (born March 12, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the granddaughter of Hank Williams, the half-niece of Jett Williams, daughter of Hank Williams Jr., half-sister of Hank Williams III, and half-aunt of Coleman Williams. Williams has released three studio albums: The Ones We Never Knew in 2004, Here with Me in 2009 and The Highway in 2013. The Highway was released on Williams' own label, Georgiana Records, and reached No. 146 on the Billboard 200.
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Early life
Williams's mother, Becky, is a native of Mer Rouge, Louisiana, and was married to Hank Williams Jr. for a decade. She was born in Cullman, Alabama, and has an elder sister named Hilary. Her parents separated when she was young. At age 17, Williams began playing one of her father's guitars, and soon began writing songs.
Williams attended elementary school at St. Paul Christian Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Brentwood Academy and decided to pursue her passion of songwriting and continue playing guitar and piano. She purchased her domain name, recorded an EP, initiated a website, and booked herself at various Nashville clubs.
Career
Soon after signing with CAA, she performed many shows throughout the US and usually toured alone with a guitar and keyboard driving her mother's car across the country. She went to the UK to open for songwriter Ron Sexsmith with a backpack full of EPs and a guitar. After the release of her first EP in 2003, she signed with Universal South Records and toured with Billy Bob Thornton, Jewel, Train, Keith Urban, and Kasey Chambers. Universal South released her debut album, The Ones We Never Knew, in 2004.
In March 2006, Williams was injured in a car crash with her sister Hilary Williams, and canceled her upcoming tour. Her sister was seriously injured, enduring 23 surgeries. Holly Williams' right arm and wrist were broken; she was unsure of when she would play again. She wrote "Without Jesus Here with Me" about her experience during the time of the car accident; it was released on her next record. Hilary Williams wrote a book called Sign of Life about her experience. Holly Williams made small musical appearances at this time, one of them joining John C. Reilly in Nashville, Tennessee, to sing "Let's Duet" during the release of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story on December 9, 2007.
After a long break Williams began playing guitar and writing songs again, she signed with Luke Lewis at Mercury Records. Williams' second studio album, Here with Me, was released in June 2009. To promote the album, Williams appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Chelsea Lately. People magazine named Williams' 2009 album "one of the top ten albums of the year". Billboard said it was "one of the best singer/songwriter albums to come out of Nashville". USA Today said "Hank Williams' granddaughter reveals a heart-on-sleeve intensity that might be grating were it not for the purity and potency of her milk-and-whiskey-kissed singing and the catchy clarity and integrity of her songs". She filmed a music video for "Alone" and "Three Days in Bed" in Paris.
Williams finished a six-week tour in Europe in early 2010, and continued the rest of the year headlining gigs and opening for other artists such as John Hiatt. After Bob Dylan called, Williams added her own music and lyrics to a half written Hank Williams Sr. lyric for a project entitled The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams that he assembled, released in September 2011. Jack White, Norah Jones, Merle Haggard and Lucinda Williams were alongside Williams for this project.
Boutique
Williams' store "H. Audrey" is a women's clothes boutique in Nashville.
Personal life
Williams was married on September 27, 2009, to fellow musician Chris Coleman (who co-wrote three of the songs on The Highway) and they settled in Nashville, Tennessee. They have four children.