Creede Williams
12.31.04

He used to practice law; now music is in order for Creede Williams. This Texas singer-songwriter opens up about songwriting, collaborating with Cary Pierce and living life with music in mind.

Your transition from the profession of law to the stage was gutsy! How did you get the courage to start down the exciting road as a performer that you're on now?"

Wow. Great question. To be frank, there is a performer behind every attorney. A lot of us go to law school with the dream that we might get to jump up in court and give a jury the "You can't handle the truth" line from A FEW GOOD MEN. Consequently, that is part of why there are so many silly attorneys screaming on t.v.

I took the law route because I liked the idea of sharing a personal, biased version of truth. Love and truth are completely unpredictable and often so personal that most people can't support why they feel the way they do.

Early on I learned that great attorneys, like writers, focus on the details and innuendo behind actions. This way of observing really helped me hone my songwriting to focus on the little things that devastate and crack us up in everyday life.

In terms of preparing me to be a performer, I'm not sure that there is anything that can get you ready for playing in front of a two thousand people, however, the courtroom was an amazing place to sharpen intuition,improvisation and the confidence to own what you are saying.

Was performing something that you'd always dreamed of doing in the back of your head, but just never thought it would materialize?

I never really considered musical performance as a possibility for me. Although I grew up playing saxophone and much of my family are relatively well-known gospel singers- I always assumed that I would run for office, write a novel or perhaps act. Fortunately, I was raised in a very "expressive" family, where there were no boundaries on reality. Ultimately, I know that the "dreamier" my life is, the looser the reigns of possibility become. Wow- that's sounds much deeper than I am.

How long have you been playing guitar and singing? Did you ever take lessons of any type, or are you self taught?

Embarrasingly, I've only been playing guitar for a couple of years and singing even less. I never had the patience or time to take proper guitar lessons. Although my family is very much a "singing" family, I wasn't in choir or anything like that. I mostly learned to sing by trying to put a vocal expression to words, definitely not by learning scales.

I'm sure you've heard that you have a likeness to the Counting Crows (which is a HUGE compliment because they are one of my favorites!)... but what artists do you really consider your personal inspirations?

What a nice compliment. I'm an enormous VAN MORRISON and THE BAND fan which consequently puts the Crows up there at the top of my favorite bands list. I draw inspiration from a pretty wide array of artists- from day one on this earth I loved Willie Nelson. Artists that raise the stakes for me today include Ben Folds, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Matt the Electrician, Bob Schneider, Mat Kearney and my hometown band, the Old 97's. Of course REM and Rufus Wainwright leave me shaking more often than not.

Did you grow up in Texas? Where do you consider your "home"?

Actually, my family moved around quite a bit while growing up. Most of my childhood memories come from a little town in Oklahoma that was also home to Reba McEntire and maximum security prison, very romantic place. Today I call Dallas home- it is an absolutely great place to live. Close enough to Austin, but far enough away that you can maintain a little perspective from the industry. Plus, Dallas is home to a ton of great artists like Rhett Miller, Cary Pierce, Lisa Loeb, Graham Colton as well as Luke and Owen Wilson.

You've collaborated with band members from Vertical Horizon to Jackopierce and Thicke on your first album Something Borrowed. How did this collaboration come about? Specifically, what artists from each band did you work with?

The musical collaborations were completely the result of Cary Pierce wholeheartedly investing himself in my little dream and bringing in his friends to lift it up. Initially, I thought I would try to a make a very subtle, solo-y kind of record; Cary definitely had different ideas about what possibility the songs held. The next thing I knew the rhythm section from VH is behind me. Completely surreal.

The origin of "This Time" is kind of a funny story. I wrote the song from the perspective of someone in a place where the world is moving happily around him while he is totally stuck in the throes of his own melodrama. My visual sort of came from living in big house with a bunch of my college buddies and hearing Jackopierce "happy" songs blasting from the hall while I'm moping around in my dark room listening to Joni Mitchell or something. In fact, I bugged Cary to sing the chorus to JP's "Get to know me better" in the background towards the end of "This Time". So if you listen closely you'll hear Cary screaming "Get to know me!" while I'm moaning.

If you could tell your fans (and the public who have yet to discover you) one thing about yourself and your music what would it be?

Well, I really only do things that I completely love and writing is something that completely humbles me everyday. All my songs are born from short stories so the characters have lives outside of the songs that really open the music to me.

Thanks so much, Creede. Best of luck to you!

Interviewed by Erin Olsen
DiscoveringArtists.com correspondent.