Their first public performance as Williams Honor was with Bruce Springsteen two years ago. “That was an incredible event. It always is. The Light of Day Foundation gets bigger and bigger every year and it has raised millions of dollars for Parkinson’s research,” they said. “Light Of Day is very near and dear to Mr. Bruce Springsteen and he performed a hell of a set that night. We all felt the magic onstage with him as we closed the show with Thunder Road, Jungleland and of course, Light of Day.”
Their single “No Umbrella” allows listeners to overcome the feelings of pain and grief over someone they just lost. They co-wrote it with country songstress Cyndi Thomson. “We actually met Cyndi at the writing session. We had both been fans for so long. She just is pure talent, beauty and kindness,” Richards said.
He continued, “We established that in order to move on from feeling intense pain, you must actually allow yourself to feel that pain. There are many that bottle it up and not express their feelings. ‘No Umbrella’ encourages people to let it hit them so they can move on in a healthy way with their lives.”
This song is off their debut self-titled album, which is available everywhere digitally and on their website. On the song selection process, Richards said, “Gordon and I just kept writing and writing. We had a strong feeling which songs we wanted on the album because we felt it was a well rounded and true description of the two of us. ‘What Did You Get Yourself Into’ really taps into our love of the traditional sound. Then there are songs that have a throwback feel as far as the instrumentation, but the feel of the song is very much where country is right now, for example, ‘Mama Please.’ We actually joke and say the bass line has the Waylon 70’s feel to it. That particular song deals with child abuse, which we knew we were delving into some deep waters with that. Every year, almost three million reports of children being abused in the United States alone is simply heartbreaking. That song is a personal one for us and it was definitely one that we knew had to go on the album.”
Gordon Brown added, “Reagan and I wanted to take things very organically and build this thing brick by brick. That’s how the songs started to appear. We had a first grouping of five in which we picked the best two. Then, we had a grouping of ten which we picked the best five and so on until we felt we had a strong musical statement made to the best of our ability for a debut album of country music that came from the shore. We started to play the early songs for friends and family and got a great reaction so we kept going until we had about 35 songs. As a songwriter, you tend to always want to write and write, as a producer you want the best material. I get the chance to use both parts with Williams Honor.”
Reagan Richards listed Marty Robbins, Glen Campbell, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline as his musical influences. Gordon Brown noted that his influences include such artists as The Eagles, Kiss, Springsteen, Vince Gill, Shania Twain, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Restless Heart, among others.
On their plans for the summer, Richards said, “Williams Honor isn’t going to stop. We are so excited to be out promoting ‘No Umbrella.’ We’ll be at CMA Fest. We’ll be releasing our fun debut music video. We have so many things planned and we can’t wait to do them all!”
Gordon concluded, “Radio. Working on tour dates as we write this. We are also doing our very first headlining beach concert in Seaside Heights on the Jersey Shore boardwalk on July 20 at 7 p.m. It’s a free show so it’s the perfect time to come see what the heck we keep talking about. Williams Honor, NJ’s very own version of country by the sea. Come be a part of the Williams Honor Army. We are looking forward to recruiting you.”
To learn more about Williams Honor, check out their official website and Facebook page.
