Videos by American Songwriter
ARTIST: Sarah Williams
SONG: “Swing A Little”
BIRTHDATE: 7/30/84
HOMETOWN: Ware Neck, Virginia
CURRENT LOCATION: Nashville, TN
AMBITIONS: I don’t take them lightly.
TURN-OFFS: Scary movies.
TURN-ONS: Anything old. Old houses, old jewelry, old styles, stories, recipes, or old cars.
DREAM GIG: Dream gig? I am living it every day and it only keeps developing. I have to regularly pinch myself! I am here in Nashville, doing what I love! I have always wanted to play some of the “big guys”, Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Gardens, etc… I suppose playing on those stages in any form would be rather dreamy.
FAVORITE LYRIC: : Lately, I find myself obsessed with the second verse of “Where Will I Be” by Daniel Lanois. The first track on Wrecking Ball, released by Emmylou Harris in 1995, this song opens up undoubtedly one of the most beautiful records ever made. All of the lyrics on this album are so profound and perfectly delivered, but this one in particular stands out among the rest.
“Met an Indian boy in Ottawa. He laid me down on a bed of straw. Said don’t waste your breath, don’t waste your heart, don’t blister your heels running in the dark. Oh where, oh where will I be? Oh where, when that trumpet sounds?”
CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW: I babysat for Miss America. She lived across the river and that’s what she told us to call her. She was crazy full of imagination. She would host the best Christmas parties and dress down to make her less dressed guests feel even more comfortable. She was crazy full of good manners. She and her sister, Jane, made their salad dressing homemade, in the attached garage of her river home, and I still make her “cucumbers for days” salad every summer. She was a crazy good cook. It was about as crazy southern as it could get in her house, in the sunroom, on a hot July day. I don’t remember her having central air, and we would go for rides in the golf cart, her granddaughter on my knee, and her grandson between us, and I pretending to babysit, and her pretending to be Miss America.
SONG I WISH I WROTE: I have always loved “Desperado” by Don Henly. My uncle loved Linda Ronstadt and introduced me to her very early on. Before I had ever heard the famous Eagles version, I had Linda’s belts, tone, and inflections completely memorized. I love the lyrics, the rhyme scheme, and the flow, of this beautiful friendly observation.
5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Jerry, George, Kramer, Elaine, and Newman.
MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: I saw Wynonna at the Bluebird this year, in June. It was truly incredible. She sang a bunch of her solo hits, as well as Judds classics. I knew all the words to from singing them as a kid. She sat, sang, played guitar, told stories, and I think I was too stunned to breath for the majority of the show. I had seen her several times before, and even very close up, but nowhere is as intimate as the Bluebird.
I WROTE THIS SONG: With Sam Hawksley, in May of 2012. I wanted to write a song about a jukebox. My favorite dive bar in Nashville is The Villager Tavern. Behind the smoke and the dim lights, to your right under the Miller Light sign is a old jukebox. I love a good jukebox. I could stay up all night playing 5 tunes for 2 dollars and listening to my favorites. I love western swing and how different it is from country music. I have been going to see the Time Jumpers since I moved to town and they played at the Station Inn. And most importantly, I love good stories. I wrote this song with Sam because I love good stories, good jukeboxes, and good western swing.
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