INTERVIEW: Faith Williams on her ‘Holy Grail’ and forthcoming album

Faith Williams is an artist from the Central Coast of New South Wales who last year released an outstanding debut EP, Queen of Hearts. She is now set to release her first album later this year, and the first single from it is 'Holy Grail'. When Queen of Hearts arrived in early 2025, Williams released it independently and, as she says in this new interview, ‘I didn't have a lot of knowledge into the industry at all. I was fairly green.’ In the year since, she has quietly accumulated the kind of experience that can't be taught: festival appearances she didn't expect, a New Songwriter of the Year win at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, radio play on ABC Country, and – just recently – being added to the playlist at Triple J, nearly a year to the day after the EP's release. That growth is also evident in her approach to the new album, which was recorded in September at Rabbit Hole Studio with producer Brandon Dodd, who also helmed Queen of Hearts. Eleven tracks were laid down in three days — an efficiency Williams credits to arriving with her songs fully formed and a clear sense of what she wanted. The album features one co-write, 'Black Fire', written with Millie Mills at a songwriting retreat run by Lyn Bowtell — otherwise the writing is entirely her own. The lead single, 'Holy Grail', is a love song that deliberately resists the conventions of the genre. Williams describes it as being about ‘choosing real over ritual’ – the kind of love that doesn't need to be dressed up or explained. It's also an example of what makes her writing distinctive: she's drawn to stories and characters, to the specific detail that opens into something universal. Her song 'Dear August', about the loss of a pregnancy, has that quality; so does 'Joe', which she traces back to a mental image of a stranger at a bus stop, telling their life to someone they'll never see again. At the time of recording, Williams was in the last trimester of pregnancy, due at the end of March. She plans to take a few months off before returning to gigging, with an album launch and a return to Tamworth pencilled in for later in the year. I was hugely impressed by Queen of Hearts when it released, so needless to say I’m excited to hear the album, and to see Williams release a wider audience, as she deserves. Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on Apple Music https://apple.co/46mS8kh Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/0kCumt... Listen to ‘Holy Grail’ on YouTube    • Holy Grail   *** For Australian country music interviews and reviews subscribe to this channel or go to: Website: https://sunburntcountrymusic.com Facebook:   / sunburntcountrymusic   Instagram:   / sunburntcountrymusic   #sunburntcountrymusic #countrymusicsinger #newcountrymusicsinger #countrymusicians #countrysinger #countryartist #topcountrysongs #countrymusicsongs #countrysongs #bestmusicpodcast #australiancountrymusic #countrymusicinterviews #musicblogwebsites #FaithWilliams #AustralianCountry #HolyGrail #CountryMusic #SunburntCountryMusic