Alex Williams Announces New Album “Waging Peace” (2024)

From the Outlaw side of country and the True Grit talent roster, Alex Williams has announced a new album called Waging Peace. And don’t worry, it won’t be full of drum circle chants and nag champa seances. You’ll get all the requisite grit, muscle, and twang that you want from an Alex Williams record. It’s set to be released on the New West subsidiary Lightning Rod Records on October 21st.

The war Alex Williams is waging on the new album is for peace inside himself between the forces of good and evil. It’s about attempting to find internal peace in the tumultuous world of being a touring musician. This can be heard in the album’s debut single “No Reservations” (see video below). And no, he’s not trying to flex his “Outlaw” muscles in the video, but illustrate how you’re thrust into these worlds that you have to navigate as a touring musician.

“‘No Reservations’ is about maneuvering through all the troubles and trials that come with this line of work on the road,” Williams says. “Meanwhile, embracing the good with the bad and discovering the pure joy that comes from being able to play music for a living.”

Helping Alex Williams along this journey is producer Ben Fowler, who brought together well-known musicians such as harmonica player Mickey Raphael and steel guitarist Danny Dugmore, while Mickey Raphael also helped co-write one of the songs on the album. Other notable co-writers include Tennessee Jet, Mando Saenz, and Saving Country Music favorite Ben Jarrell. Alex Williams wrote or co-wrote all twelve of the tracks on the new album.

Williams took an unconventional path for a more independent-minded artist when he released his debut album Better Than Myself in 2017 via Big Machine Records—the same major label that launched Florida Georgia Line and Taylor Swift. It seemed like a strange fit to say the least, and even though the album resonated with the Cody Jinks/Whitey Morgan crowd, it wasn’t going to win any CMA Awards or set any sales records.

At the time, we assumed the Alex Williams signing was Music Row’s answer to the rising tide of independent artists that were beginning to challenge the mainstream’s dominance, and trying to mint an independent artist of their own. Though Alex Williams fit the “Outlaw” profile, some of the songs on his debut album also fit somewhat in the mainstream style of writing, leaning on drinking song clichés.

“Before I made my first record, I had not toured. I had no road band and a very slim amount of experience in the studio,” Williams explains. “These past four years since leaving Big Machine to become fully independent, and the release of ‘Better Than Myself’ has been a whirlwind. I’m very glad that I waited five years to make another record because it’s given me time to really find my voice as a songwriter, experience life on the road and all the pain and joy that has come my way in more ways than one.”

Waging Peace is now available for pre-order.

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