Women of Country - Album Reviews

Album Review

Holly Williams
The Ones We Never Knew
Universal South Records

Holly Williams certainly has the pedigree to be a great artist. She is the granddaughter of Hank Williams and the daughter of Hank Williams Jr., both who are undeniable country legends. One would have to expect great things from The Ones We Never Knew but those people would be sadly disappointed in this vanilla collection of light weigh folk pop songs.

The lead-off track “Sometimes” is the albums highlight and it basically sums up what you’re going to hear for the rest of the record. It’s a well written, soft little folk tune that you can picture being played repeatedly in your local coffee shop. “Everybody’s Waiting for a Change” is also a solid song and is one of the few times Holly breaks away from her vanilla vocal delivery. The final track that stands out comes in the form of “Would You Still Have Fallen”. The songs soft, sultry groove actually works.

The rest of the album never manages to get off the ground. Songs like “Take Me Down” and “Memory of Me” are just plain boring ballads. “Cheap Parades” sounds like some strange cross between a Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan song and it doesn’t work at all.

The biggest problem with The Ones We Never Knew lies in the fact that the album sounds the same from the beginning to the end. There is a sameness is tempo and style that makes all of the songs sound almost exactly alike and eventually lead the listener to become disinterested. There is virtually no melodic difference between the songs and Holly sings them all in such a way that she comes across as disinterested instead of laid back. The album plays out like a 12 track long single song and if you’re going to do that it had better be one hell of a song. It works for the first three tracks and then collapses on the weight of itself.

The Ones We Never Knew is nothing more than a disappointment. There is nothing on this record which hasn’t been done better recently by either Mary Chapin Carpenter or Shawn Colvin. It’s going to struggle to find a home in country radio; it’s way to folk based for that and I doubt it’s going to find much interest in the Americana genre when there are so many other fantastic releases floating around. The album doesn’t offer enough to any one particular group of listeners to make any of them happy. This one is worth skipping.

Album Review by Jeff Krasky

The WOC Rating Scale

The album stands above the rest. This is a record that every country music fan needs to have in their collection.

This album is better than the average release. A strong record with some flaws that keep it from reaching that 5 star level.

This album is an average country release. Doesn't posses qualities that make it stand out among all the other albums out there.

A weak record that lacks solid songs or good vocal performances. Sample before you buy.

This record is a bargin-bin reject that just isn't worth the time or the money. Completely misses the mark.