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always introduce me as their golf pro. I had to
overcome that. It took a long time to
get where I am today. I tell people, `I slept on
more couches than Lassie.'"
He made an unsuccessful attempt to break into
the Nashville music community in
1982, and went back two years later after
finding songwriter David Lynn Jones, whose
work he believed in. Armed with a tape of eight
songs, he made the rounds of his
contacts, but none of them paid any attention.
Back on the golf course in Texas,
friend Willie Nelson offered him encouragement
and took a copy of the tape when he
returned to Nashville to record with Merle
Haggard. When Haggard left a session and
didn't return, Nelson pulled out the tape and
recorded six of the songs.
Living in the
Promised Land became the title of the hit 1985
album, a number one single, and a
Nelson classic. On the strength of that
success, Williams moved to Nashville to make
a place for himself. "I struggled. My wife
worked and supported us. I used to tell
people `I'm in the music business, but I can't
prove it.'"
After struggling for four years, golf buddy,
mentor, and Capitol Records head
Jimmy Bowen discovered just how broke Williams
was and gave him a job at his pub-
lishing company, Great Cumberland Music. "I
never asked Bowen for anything,"
explains Williams. "He thought I was doing
great because I could always pay my golf
debts--I didn't lose many back then." After his
wife gave birth, complications pre-
vented her from returning to work and the
family found themselves strained finan-
cially. "Scott Simon and James Stroud went to
Bowen and said, `We need to help
Herky get a job. He's not doing too good
financially.'" Hired as an entry level song
plugger, Williams proved he had a gift for
discovering and nurturing talent. Among
the many artists he found and signed were John
Berry in 1990 and Deana Carter in
1991. When the publishing company was sold in
1992, he moved to Capitol Records
as head of artist development. Following a
major label shake up, he decided to move
on, but was unable to find work for 18 months.
When Deana Carter's 1994 debut
album sold five million copies in the first
year, Williams' creative abilities were once
again recognized. He settled into a position as
director of creative services at ASCAP
Nashville, focusing on what he does best:
discovering and nurturing musical talent.
In 2001, Williams was promoted to assistant
vice president of creative services,
membership, Nashville, reporting directly to
senior vice president Connie Bradley.
His duties include securing publishing and
record deals for ASCAP members as well
as placing songs with artists, labels, and
producers.
Since 2000, Williams has also served on the
board of directors for Stereo Vision
Entertainment, Inc., a film production company
focused exclusively on developing
low-cost, high-quality, 3-D films. He is
acting secretary-treasurer for the company.
www.ascap.com and
www.stereovision.com
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