Alex Williams | ‘Waging Peace’ | Album Review
After 5 years Alex Williams is back with the follow-up to his 2017 debut album “Better Than Myself”. ‘Waging Peace’ is Alex putting his heart on his sleeve and showcasing who he and his music has become. When Alex was asked about the growth over the last 5 years, he had this to say,
“Now I feel like a totally different person, because there’s so much more I have experienced,” he goes on. “It’s not easy to get out of that powerful machine up in your head, and in my opinion it’s the toughest battle you can face … But in the end, it’s worth it. I’m just trying to be honest with the songs and write the kind of music that I would want to listen to.”
Alex getting out of that powerful machine also trickles down to his fans through this album, you can put on a track and for 4 minutes put yourself in a storyteller’s world. Alex Williams is an old soul with the outlaw grit to match, and this is portrayed well in deep cuts on ‘Waging Peace”. His sophomore album shows his growth both personally and professionally with the southern rock guitars that take you back to the days of the Allman Brothers and Skynyrd and then mixed with the deep soulful voice that Williams packs into every song. Truly a sound, unlike anything you have heard as of late.
‘Waging Peace’ explains William’s fallout, from life on the road and how he had to make peace with himself.
“It was that typical rock-star thing, traveling around and thinking ‘cool’ is the same as being reckless,” Williams admits. “I did it for a lot of years … Until one night, and I’m still trying to process. I wasn’t that person then – and I’m definitely not now – and Waging Peace is just about trying to make peace with yourself. “It’s tough to be transparent about the difficult things that sparked these songs,” he goes on, quiet resolve guiding his voice. “But I’m not going to fabricate anything.”
This is a deep & personal album for Alex Williams, he either wrote or co-wrote all 12 tracks on the album and put a little piece of himself into each one. Alex penned 3 Songs solo, one of those songs is “The Struggle” which is one that stands out on the album. Alex wrote this during the pandemic, and it fell out of him in about 45 minutes. Alex focuses on the struggle that comes with life.
“To Live Is To Struggle”
he says not everyone’s life is perfect we all have those ups and downs, but you got to keep going through these struggles that are truly life lessons.
“Aint It All About The Struggle, That Makes It Worth It When It’s Done”
“This one just came out of nowhere and basically describes how someone else can pull you out of the trenches and stand beside you through the darkest of times.”
‘Waging Peace’ was produced by Grammy award winner Ben Fowler, who also serves as Vice President of the Recording Academy Nashville & has worked with acts like Kip Moore, Sara Evans, Jason Crabb, Rascal Flatts, Ruby Amanfu, & Natasha Bedingfield. He is currently working with Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, Jameson Rodgers, & Kris Kristofferson.
Hear what Alex Williams says about the new ‘Waging Peace” album
“A few of these tunes were born during the recent halt to our normal lives we have all experienced. Before I made my first record, I had not toured, I had no road band, and a very slim amount of experience in the studio. These past 4 years since leaving Big Machine to become fully independent, and the release of Better Than Myself has been a whirlwind, and I’ve learned so much from so many great artists and bands that I have had the pleasure of touring with, and unbelievably thankful they provided me with a stage to play on including artists Whitey Morgan, Blackberry Smoke, and Cody Jinks. Taught me the importance of being at the wheel of your own destiny on an independent platform as a musician. I was really on edge for a while about the frustrations of not being able to come out with another album in so long, but I’m very glad that I have waited 5 years to make another record because it’s given me the time to really focus on finding my voice as a songwriter, experiencing life on the road and all the pain and joy that has come my way in more ways than one. The pandemic gave me more than enough time to sit and really think about what I wanted to say. As it goes, you have your whole life to write your first record, and I capitalized on a few things that I had experienced and gone through, but it was limited with how green I was at the time, with only a surface level view of where I wanted to go musically”.
This is one of the best albums you can pick up this year, solid from tracks 1-12, and no skippable songs. It flows and keeps you hanging on by a thread digging deeper into the lyrics song by song. We gave this album a 10/10 and encourage each of you to pick up a copy of it and dig deep.
10/10
‘Waging Peace’ Track List:
1. "No Reservations" (Alex Williams / Mando Saenz)
2. "Old Before My Time" (Alex Williams / Neal Coty)
3. "Rock Bottom" (Alex Williams / Mando Saenz)
4. "Fire" (Alex Williams / Tennessee Jet)
5. "Higher Road" (Alex Williams / Mando Saenz)
6. "Waging Peace" (Alex Williams)
7. "Conspiracy" (Alex Williams / Tennessee Jet)
8. "The Best Thing" (Alex Williams / Mickey Raphael)
9. "Double Nickel" (Alex Williams / Ben Jarrell)
10. "Confession" (Alex Williams / Marshall Altman)
11. "The Struggle" (Alex Williams)
12. "The Vice" (Alex Williams)
Waging Peace is out on Friday 21st October via Lightning Rod Records
