MusicRowPics: Zane Williams

Singer-songwriter Zane Williams stopped by the MusicRow offices on Monday (Sept. 16) to perform songs from his album Overnight Success. The title track is a song he calls autobiographical. “It’s how to become an overnight success in the industry in 10 easy steps,” he said. A few of those steps include buying a second-hand amp, playing every day for nine or 10 years, eating fast food at every meal, firing the original band, buying a new van, burning out on music and coming back to it, and finally getting a shot at the “big time.” “I’ve lived every line in this song,” says Williams.

“I didn’t grow up listening to country music and didn’t grow up in a musical family,” says Williams. “It took me a while to figure out where I fit.” With his penchant for story songs, and his strong twangy vocals, it seems Country is a place his songs can call home. His songwriting has garnered plenty of awards and attention. He won the John Lennon Songwriting contest, and his song “The Big Picture” was the Grand Prize-winning entry in the 6th annual CMT/NSAI Song Contest. Williams is currently signed with BE Music & Entertainment for management, label representation and publishing. His songs have been recorded by Pat Green and Jason Michael Carroll (“Hurry Home”).

He performed “On A Good Day,” penned in the snowy mountains of Telluride, Colo. A couple hired him to perform at their wedding at their spacious log cabin in Telluride. A heavy snow fell during the event, leaving Williams unable to fly out to his next show. “I’m sitting there in this large log cabin with 25-foot bay windows and watching snow fall on the mountains, and I thought it would be a good setting for a song,” said Williams.

The song, along with “When You’ve Got A Woman” and “Overnight Success,” are on Williams’ album Overnight Success, produced by Williams and Tom Faulkner, who may be best known for helping create jingles for Motel 6 and Chilis’ babyback ribs. “He had so many great ideas on how to arrange things and different instrumental lines, that I brought him in to produce the album,” says Williams. Williams wrote every song on the project, which was recorded near his home in Dallas.

For more information on Zane Williams, visit zanewilliamsmusic.com.