Search - Hayward Williams :: Another Sailor's Dream

Hayward Williams' "Another Sailor's Dream" is a freewheeling, shotgun wedding of folk, blues and rootsy country rock, all filled with a gorgeous blend of ache, gristle and whiskey-toned gruffness. The album is comprised of songs that walk a perfect line between the sweet and bitter, and the sentimental and cynical, and is perfectly bookended by the opening track, "The Ballad of Benson Creek," and the finale, Williams' own earnest version of Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road." The eleven performances are carried out by an impressive trio of multi-instrumentalists, including accomplished singer/songwriter and co-producer Peter Mulvey (Signature Sounds Recording), Dan McMahon (Wandering Sons), along with Williams on vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar and piano. On this compelling debut the Milwaukee-based singer/songwriter "boasts a voice that sounds several decades older than he actually is, lending his songs of love and loss a gravity they might not otherwise possess" and "never slips into blandness or forces the quiet drama" [The Onion].