RACHEL WILLIAMS CD RELEASE PARTY
FOR “LOVERS & LIARS”
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
@ 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, TN

CD Release parties aren’t anything new to Nashville. In fact they pretty much happen everyday around town so trying to standout amongst the pack and be unique takes some creative thinking and Rachel Williams did just that.

Williams has already proven to anyone and everyone in Nashville that she can create solid music that leans heavy on both a blues and country influence with the release of her sophomore album Lonely At The Bottom. Over the two years since its release she has been stamping her name all over town through countless live performances with a full band behind her as well as many writers nights, which allowed her to showcase her vocals and new material. All of this leading up to tonight.

Though her new EP, Lovers & Liars was available to those attending CMA Fest just a few weeks ago, this performance marked its official release. However, in the not so typical CD release party fashion, Williams not only was able to showcase her new songs, but brought along some of her friends/co-writers with her to open up the show turning her CD release show into a top-notch writers night and with the addition of a chocolate cake with her photo on it, she turned this into and actual party chalked full of depth, variety, and desert.

The writer’s night portion of the show allowed some of Rachel’s favorite co-writers to take the stage with Karen Staley kicking the show off playing familiar Faith Hill cuts she has landed like “Take Me As I Am” and “Let’s Go To Vegas.” The crowd was singing along from the get-go and never seemed to stop. Mark Narmore brought along his hit songs “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” the popular Craig Morgan tune as well as “Someone Who Would Die For You,” a cut on Tracy Lawrence’s new album The Rock. Bonnie Baker delighted the crowd with her wit and humor that sometimes leaned on the sarcastic side, but also brought her hit songs like Reba’s “My Sister” to the audience.

But the writer’s portion wasn’t meant to just be full of hit songs, but to showcase some new talent as well and introduce them to the crowd. Karleen Watt sung a few songs and captivated the audience early on, while Bruce Wallace, who’s cut “ Love Letters” is going to be featured on the forthcoming Jessica Harp album, and Sara Beck, showcased their songwriting talents to the crowd as well.

Throughout the writer’s performances at any given moment Rachel Williams, the party girl, joined at times by Kim Copeland, Bruce Wallace, and more, hopped up on stage to sing-a-long with her favorite songs kicking off the night’s festivities in a laid back and fun style.

But as good as this night was up to this point, it was about to get a whole lot better. The whole point of this party was to celebrate Rachel Williams and her new EP, and her along with her band hit the stage with a bang opening their show with “As Far As You Know,” which just prior to kicking in Williams exclaimed, “I don’t know about y’all but I am ready to throw down.”

The crowd sang along and cheered loudly as the familiar tune came to a close and Rachel addressed the crowd, “After 3 days of looking I finally found this party dress I have on. My nails and toes are matching and let’s keep this party rolling,” she finished as she played her popular, fan favorite “Firestarter” off of her Lonely At The Bottom album before diving into cuts from her new EP with the opening track “Unbroken Ground.”

“What I love about this new EP is that it only has 7 cuts on it which meant I had to cut to the chase pretty quickly on it,” began Williams, “and this next song is pretty much word for word what I had been going through over the last year and a half,” she finished as she played “You Let Me,” arguably one of the best songs on the new EP if the fan reaction was any indication.

“We were in the middle of writing another song and got writer’s block or something when we came up with this next song,” explained Rachel as she slowed things down with “In Between,” followed by another fan favorite, the upbeat “On My Way To You.”

“Y’all need to get some of that cake in the back,” demanded Williams, “because I don’t want to take it all home,” she joked. “People have asked me why I called this new EP Lovers & Liars and the answer is that in my opinion I think you are either one or the other and this next song is the title track of the EP and is all about my frustrations in the dating world,” she finished as they played “Lovers & Liars.”

“Something happened a few months ago that shook me to the core. It was actually the day of the photo shoot for the EP, but we found out that a dear friend of ours, Bruce Holloway had passed away,” stated Williams as she continued, “I was lucky enough to write a few songs with him and in the 2 years he was in Nashville he impacted everyone he met,” she finished as she played “A Woman To Love.” At one point during the performance she revved up the crowd when she took a drumstick and began striking the cymbal in perfect rhythm with the band.

After briefly talking about her experiences at CMA Fest this year, Williams began to talk about what a hero Wynonna had been to her and how great it was to see both her and Naomi perform together at CMA Fest and finished with, “so tonight I am going to play a Wynonna song in my set because I decided that it’s my party and I can play what I want to,” she finished as she did an outstanding cover of “No One Else On Earth,” before closing with “Where My Line Is,” a song Williams declared as her new anthem.

FULL SET LIST

1. As Far As You Know
2. Firestarter
3. Unbroken Ground
4. You Let Me
5. In Between
6. On My Way To You
7. Lovers & Liars
8. A Woman To Love
9. No One Else On Earth
10. Where My Line Is