Singer from legendary bloodline comes back from horrific accident

Hiliary Williams

Even the most upbeat, optimistic person might want to throw in the towel after enduring what singer/songwriter Hilary Williams has faced in the last few years. Hilary and her sister Holly, daughters of country legend Hank Williams Jr. and granddaughters of Hall-of-famer Hank Williams Sr., suffered devastating injuries in a single-vehicle wreck March 15, 2006, in northern Mississippi.

“They told me I would never walk or sing again,” Hilary Williams remembered. “It got real hard for me to breathe several times.” In fact, at one point, Williams actually died and then came back to life. She spent a few years in a wheelchair and today must walk with a cane. She’s undergone 23 surgeries, and as recently as last year the rod in her leg broke, something Williams admits “was kind of frustrating at the time.”

But Monday night Hilary Williams will step on stage at 12th and Porter and perform for the first time since the accident as part of the Familiar Faces show co-hosted by Shawn Carnes and Chad Randall.

And she isn’t stopping there; she’s negotiating a book deal, writing songs again and looking forward to cutting a complete CD. Williams has already issued some tunes online at myspace.com/therealhilwill and says that her new music is a bit different than what people would expect from a member of the Williams family.

“I’m really more into the pop/rock sound than country,” Williams acknowledged. “My voice is kind of clear and high, and the people whose music really influenced me in terms of singing include Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, Sarah McLachlan, and Stevie Nicks. Of course, when you talk about writing I’m certainly a fan of the things that my grandfather wrote and some of my father’s things, but I’ve always favored the pop side of performing.”

Williams didn’t really begin writing songs until a bit later in her career (she’s now 30), but she cites her love of music and passion for performing, along with the support of her family, as the main reasons she was able to overcome the long time away and handle all the attendant medical problems.

“For one thing, my father had survived his own medical ordeal, so he was always right there with me, encouraging me,” Williams said. “Plus I had faith in God and I just maintained an optimistic attitude, no matter what happened. That doesn’t mean there weren’t times when I wanted to quit. But my family never wavered in their support and I kept an optimistic attitude.”

Besides the injuries that she incurred in the wreck, Hilary Williams has also been a Type 1 diabetic for 22 years, something that has hindered her recovery time. Even though she’s been facing many challenges, her love of music has stayed constant through the suffering, an important source of inspiration that ultimately helped her bounce back.

“Music has always been my outlet, something that lifts my spirits and makes me feel really great,” Williams said. “Even when I was lying there pretty sure that I wasn’t going to sing anymore, in my heart I knew I was coming back. Monday night is a new start for me, but it’s also a return to doing what I love more than anything in the world — performing in front of people.”

What: Hilary Williams, daughter of Hank Williams Jr., in her first singing performance since a devastating car accident in 2006
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: 12th and Porter
Cost: free and open to the public
Info: 12thandporterlive.com