New Unearthed Don Williams Recordings To Be Released As Album In May

A new chapter in the legacy of country music’s “Gentle Giant,” Don Williams, begins today with the announcement of Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes, a collection of previously unheard tracks arriving May 29 via Craft Recordings. “Fans from Abilene to Zimbabwe (really) will delight in discovering these never-before-released gems from the incomparable Don Williams,” writes Ed Morris in the album’s liner notes. 

The multi-track tapes were discovered in the cellar of the Williams family’s rural Tennessee home and later brought to Don’s longtime co-producer, Garth Fundis, who collaborated with him for more than four decades. The recordings date from 1979 to 1984, a defining period in Williams’ career that produced enduring classics including “Good Ole Boys Like Me,” “It Must Be Love,” “I Believe in You,” “Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good,” and “Love Is on a Roll."

Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes arrives on vinyl, CD, and digital formats and is available to pre-order and pre-save now. 

In addition to standard black vinyl, the album will also be available in several exclusive color variants, including a “Red Velvet” pressing available exclusively at Barnes & Noble, a “Parchment Smoke” pressing exclusive to Cracker Barrel, and a “Mahogany Smoke” edition available via CraftRecordings.com.

Tim Williams, son of Don Williams and a talented musician in his own right, is Executive Producer on the album. “These songs Dad recorded are—as music can be—a time machine,” he observes. “Obviously, I grew up always hearing what he was doing. He’d bring home three to four songs at a time from the album he was working on at different stages. In working on this project, we tried above all to stay true to how Dad approached production, made much easier for me with Garth’s involvement, and then just to stay out of the way of the music.”

“Don liked every one of these songs,” Fundis said. “I remember recording all of them… He was very particular about the songs he recorded and the sound we created for each of them. But, if a song didn’t make in to an album, it wasn’t necessarily because he didn’t like it. Moreover, it was because of how songs fit together to create an album. I think he’d be thrilled to know that people could hear him sing these new songs they didn’t know existed. I’m certain Don would be proud of this album."