Artist: Zachary Williams
Hometown: Acworth, Georgia
Latest Album: Dirty Camaro
Personal Nickname: Ray ray
What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?
The first time I stepped onto an open mic stage and completely bombed. It was addicting.
Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?
I like to take a nice long walk by myself without my phone or anything just to clear my head. I’m in the woods a good bit. There is something about walking through a forest knowing that every tree is connected somehow. It makes you feel very small which is a very good feeling to me.
What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?
“Losing You” on this album has been with me for 12 years. I’ve worked on it for that long and it has got to be the hardest one for sure.
If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?
This is lame, but before I started The Lone Bellow, I was invited to have breakfast in the Upper West Side of Manhattan with Bono. I remember I was a nervous wreck. I mean. It’s Bono. They shut down the whole place so we could sit down together over some eggs. At the end of our meal we stood up and I asked him if he had any advice for a young buck like me. He said, “Set yourself on fire every night.” I hear those words before every single show.
How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?
Great question. For several records I never did and then a couple years ago I started flirting with the idea of trying to write someone else’s story. Trying to put myself in someone else’s shoes. On this record, it’s “Her Picture.” Everything else is me.
Photo Credit: Eric Ryan Anderson
