A Songbird Takes Flight. Meet Tiffany Williams

I’m blown away, on nearly a daily basis, by the talent our Commonwealth continues to produce. I saw an article recently with the title “Country Music Was Born, & Is Now Being Reborn, In Appalachia“, the article itself is a pretty simplistic piece, but I couldn’t agree more with its title.

Folks like the “Whiskey Riff” don’t cover artists until they reach a certain level of fandom. In doing so, they barely scratch the surface of what is actually happening here in Kentucky. They’re pumping out short and simple articles that focus on the “it” artists of the moment. They’re going for clicks. We’re here for the music, the artists, the discoveries of Kentucky’s hidden gems.

We’ve seen the popularity of many Kentucky artists skyrocketing in our nearly two years of existence. The feedback and input of our readers have helped create a music family that we’re incredibly proud of.

Today, I want to introduce another artist to the family. Meet McRoberts, Kentucky’s Tiffany Williams. She is currently living in Nashville where she is also an author. Tiffany has won multiple awards for her writings and she just released her debut EP, ‘When You Go.’ A collection of stories that explore life, love and mortality set within Appalachia.

Each of her songs paint very different audible images. Some colorful, some gloomy like a wet wintery morning. The music itself is simplistic in it’s approach and that’s crucial to allow her stories and complicated melodies to shine. There are no formulaic song structures on this release.

This quote from Tiffany conveys what I’m trying to say, quite well. “These songs are about the fallout of love and loss, the need and hope for the balm of companionship against the mystery of existence, and loving and longing for a complicated life and place you know you have to leave.”

Tiffany’s vocals remind me of two artists that I happen to love. A cross between Emmylou Harris and Tina Dico. Her voice is powerful, but she refrains from fully unleashing it, using it to act as punctuation for the moments and points that she wants to make. As a photographer, I really appreciate and respect that. I do the same in my photos. I decide what I want you to see first, a forced perspective if you will.

So I’m going to also do the same with this article. I’m not going into a deep description of songs. I’m simply urging you to take a listen and I have all the confidence in the world that Tiffany will draw you in. Click play. Fall in love. Then support this incredibly gifted songbird.

I will add that “When I’m Gone” is my personal favorite. No one gets out of this world alive and this song is a blueprint on what she wants done after she leaves this earth. It’s a haunting, beautiful look at mortality.