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Reliably informed
Ali Welford talks to the songwriters about how forged connections, personal loss and the setting aside of egos culminated in their collaborative album
Among UK folk and indie circles, news of a Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand collaboration will have raised few eyebrows. These, after all, are acclaimed songwriters who’ve spent almost two decades playing similar bills, sharing social circles and delivering music which, on the face of it, appears wholly compatible.
It seems implausible, then, that it took until 2019’s Edinburgh International Book Festival for the pair to finally cross paths. Happening upon one another in the event’s Spiegeltent, even they felt a rendezvous was overdue.
“Lots of people would mention Kath to me as though we knew each other,” admits Dan Willson (Withered Hand), calling in from Northern Scotland. “I kept hearing such nice things about her, and thought there was no way all of this could be true!”
“I felt like I already knew Dan too,” Kathryn recalls, from her home in Newcastle. “When he first walked over to say hi, I said ‘HEELLLOOOO!’ and gave him a big hug, which he looked terrified about.”
Dan: “I didn’t think you’d even know who I was.”
Kathryn: “The nice thing is we know each other really well now.”
Dan: “Too well now!”
Kathryn: “Yeah – we’re now working out how we can get to know each other a bit less!”
If this were true, releasing an album and plotting an extensive tour together seems an odd way of going about it – yet the 11 songs which make up Willson Willams hint of a connection extending far beyond mutual admiration for each other’s music.
“I knew some of Dan’s stuff and really liked it, and I’d heard through a mutual friend that he’d been struggling with writing. I thought, ‘I write, and I’ve got some time,’ so decided to get in touch,” Kathryn recounts. “I’d lost my confidence and thought I was a dried-up husk,” Dan concedes. “I didn’t know a lot about Kath’s music, but there were a couple of songs, Sequins and Picture Book [both from 2013 album Crown Electric], that I was really taken with. I didn’t have much experience writing with other people, so it was really enlightening for me.”
Traversing between Edinburgh and Newcastle, the duo swiftly built a creative rapport, feeding from each other’s strengths and revelling in their common ground, all whilst resisting the compulsions of undue pressure. “We didn’t have a plan, we were just writing for the joy of it,” insists Kathryn. “I was perfectly happy for Dan to use the songs for his own record, but we eventually realised they didn’t fit with either of our solo work. It took us a couple of years to realise it, but they were born of us both.
I feel like the record has a real kindness and optimism. It can be quite joyful, comforting and childlike
“The record came from talking,” she continues, delving into their creative process. “We had lots of late-night cups of tea in our kitchens, discussing our partners and families; who we are personally and who we are in music; friends we’d both lost who were in the public eye, and the strange place between personal loss and communal grieving. We bonded over those things, which meant that when we got down to the nitty gritty, we both felt invested, found ownership and were able to put our egos to the side.”
Those bereavements – Dan for his brother Karl, as well as friend and Frightened Rabbit songwriter Scott Hutchinson, and Kathryn for friend, comedian and radio presenter Jeremy Hardy – form an overarching theme of Willson Williams, yet both seem reluctant for the narrative of a ‘grief record’ to take hold.
“I think a sense of loss was what initially connected us, but there were lots of other shared experiences we came to bond over,” Dan reflects. Kathryn agrees: “What was really special was that that grief never became immersive. Although it touches on those things, I feel like the record has a real kindness and optimism. It can be quite joyful, comforting and childlike.”
Indeed, if there’s one element which ties Willson Williams together, it’s the genial warmth running through each and every track; an audio document of the pair’s burgeoning friendship, punctuated by humour, self-deprecation and both artists’ instantly recognisable trademarks. Casting its net wide both sonically and emotionally, the LP is littered with resplendent additions to their respective canons – from delicate, harmony-laden heartbreaker Our Best (the first song they penned together) to the cathartic folk pop of Weekend; a number about social anxiety and feeling alien among crowds of revellers, inspired by their shared experience at a Supergrass concert.
Produced by Rod Jones (Idlewild), it’s also awash with nods to the mutual connections they’ve (often unknowingly) forged over the years, with Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow), Graeme Smillie (Arab Strap/The Delgados), Kris Drever (Lau), Chris Geddes (Belle & Sebastian), Pete Harvey (Modern Studies) and Kenny Anderson (King Creosote) among the guests to feature.
“It kickstarted a purple patch for me, relatively speaking,” Dan reveals. “Kath’s can-do attitude and fearlessness when it comes to creating really emboldened me to start writing my own stuff again. The album I brought out last year [How Not To Love, the first Withered Hand LP in nine years] came in the wake of that – only the recording overtook it!”
With Willson Williams landing in April and a month-long UK tour scheduled for May, there’ll be ample time for further hot bevs and late-night conversations – and once more without the strain of burdensome end-goals.
“I love collaborating because it takes you away from your usual pathway – but for me having Dan as a friend is the real prize, and the album is a byproduct of that,” Kathryn states. “It’s about keeping your door open,” Dan concurs.
“Sometimes when you’re younger you think you’ve already met all the significant people in your life. I certainly used to think like that, but Kath appearing in mine has really rejuvenated me.”
Willson Williams is released on Friday 26th April. Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand play Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle on Thursday 2nd May and The Holy GrAle, Durham on Tuesday 7th May.
