Category: 2 – Folk

After self-releasing four albums of music that was recognized as “gothic country,” I began writing songs that were too broad (and hopeful) to fit the narrow definition of “gothic.” These songs were music closer aligned to traditional folk music, but like my gothic country songs, were also inspired by the nature, people, and history of the American Midwest. Technically speaking, I began incorporating layered vocals, ambient sounds, and unconventional song structures to put my own spin on traditional Americana. These songs were written, played, and recorded by me in a DIY closet studio that I set up in Lawrence, KS.

Marconi (2017)

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I recently stumbled across the words for these seven songs and felt inspired to set them to my own music. Some of them are ancient songs with origins lost to history, others date to the late 1800s, and one of them was written in 2004. All of them convey a mood of longing and perseverance – two characteristics of traditional folk music I’ve always been drawn to.

The process couldn’t have been any more simple. As soon as I found a melody and arrangement that suited the words, I recorded each song through my iPhone and these are the results; these bare-bones recordings capture the initial moment of inspiration for each song.

True – these are what most folks would consider scratch tracks or first takes. And while I may, one day, decide to do more with them, what you’ll hear on this album is the initial moment of inspiration for each song. Despite the occasional throat-clearing or flubbed note, I was able to capture the precise moment when these songs “clicked” for me, which usually disappears from a song when it’s put through the mechanical process of recording and production. From that perspective, they’re perfectly imperfect and I couldn’t have recorded them any better if I’d tried.

Back to Folk Music

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It’s been eight years since I last performed as a solo folksinger, but on March 31, 2017, I dusted off some of my old tunes and even played a new one for an intimate show at Conroy’s Pub in Lawrence, KS.

It was a surprisingly gratifying experience for me, and I hope to have another opportunity to do it again soon. More than that, though, it got my creative juices flowing and I’ve begun working on a new album of folk songs that I hope to release digitally in Fall 2017. This time, I’ll be working with lyrics from old-time folk songs in the public domain and setting them to my own arrangements. At some point, I may be interested to write new songs from scratch, but for now I’m really enjoying the process of working with great words already written.

The aforementioned “new” song from the recent Conroy’s performance is my arrangement of the old folk standard “Rye Whiskey.” Lyrically, it’s a combination of a few well-known versions, and musically, the new arrangement gives an already timeless song a bit of a contemporary feel, in my opinion. Here’s what it sounded like at Conroy’s:

Songs of the Iron Men (2009)

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Before gas tractors plowed the fields, steam traction engines ruled the prairie. Now, the glory days of steam farming live on through the words of the men and women who experienced them firsthand.

These 12 poems, originally submitted to the steam engine enthusiast magazine Iron-Men Album back in the 1950s, have been unearthed and set to original music by Christian Williams. Enjoy this glimpse of a little-known chapter of American history.

Released April 1, 2009. Poems written by Chestor Phalor, Eva K. Anglesburg, Harry Fischback, Ernest Pawson, E.C. Harsch, Helen Virden, Mrs. B.K. Francis, John Kelly, J.F. Loffelmacher, Chas. L. Genter, O.H. Nieman and Mae Baber. Original music composed, performed, and recorded by Christian Williams in Lawrence, KS. Album design and layout by Jeannine Snyder.