Meet Patrick Williams

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Patrick Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Patrick below.

Patrick, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

It helps me to imagine songwriting like surfing a wave. I don’t need to understand it to be fascinated and compelled by it. I just want to join it and ride it all the way to shore. If I can open myself and let it unfold on its own, its energy and character will become a part of me and inspire me. Creating music touches my spirit. It feels primordial and visceral. Probably because creativity is inherent to God’s nature. Tapping into its divine source keeps me coming back for more. If I can join the waves where I am, as I am, they always reward me. I want to stay curious about where they go and ride as many as I can in different ways. I’m rewarded if I take a leap of faith and become uncomfortable, holding some fear of what comes next and how I’ll navigate it. Will I get in the way and have it crash upon me, or will I exist within it and let it fascinate and thrill me?

To ride the wave I must present myself. I have to return each day, check conditions, put my feet in the water, and try to ride. Some days I can only ride a piece of a wave, but those pieces, built over weeks, and sometimes years, can combine in the future to make something unique and wonderful to me. The song ‘Wichita’ was created this way. The initial fingerstyle riff was written many years before the song was completed. The lyrics and piano interlude were written last year, and the chorus was written several years between. The waves, with their shifting energies and tempos were all different. The mood and the keys were different, and my life was different during each period the song was written. But the combination of these elements was a new wave of its own that challenged me to let it unfold. The opposite happened on the song ‘This Young’. It was sparked during a jam session one night with close friends. The next day the wave was still there when I showed up, so I kept riding. I wrote two more changes, along with the lyrics and vocal melodies. I recorded and mixed all the tracks until late into the night, and the song was completed within 24 hours. The song ‘After She’s Gone’ was a beautiful wave of its own that my longtime music partner, Taylor O’Connor wrote on piano a decade ago. I wrote the lyrics and melodies in a 12 hour marathon recording session last year. Both the piano and vocals were made quickly, using improvisation, but the song didn’t reach its current form until 10 years had passed. The lesson for me was that sometimes a song, and its songwriter, needs time to grow, and sometimes everything comes together at once. When I keep riding the waves, large and small, letting things happen and joining the muse, I can trust that the best things will come to be. There is a song at the end of the ride that I can experience and enjoy for the rest of my life. There’s joy in creating the song and joy in listening to it again and again. I adore creativity because it gives as I give, respects as I respect, and is faithful as I am faithful. This abiding brings peace and joy and lets me experience its wild ride. Everyone knows the feeling at the end of a wild ride. You want to go again! Inspiration feeds upon itself.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I make music every day, but it took a long time to get to this place. It started when I was 16 and an original melody came to me. As a kid, I couldn’t listen to music without being an imaginary member of the band. I was excited and curious about music and wanted to express it in my own way. Now it feels like a dream to write songs, make records, and sing in a rock band.

It took me a long time to make music a daily habit. It was very hard to set aside time and energy for music when I was deep in my career and raising a family. It was hard for me to invest even a small amount on creativity. Intellectually, I could see that it was meaningful and would pay large dividends, but it had to reach my heart to spark action. Once it did, a torrent came.
Over the past 9 months I restored and remastered a demo album Taylor O’Connor and I made in the 1990’s called ‘The Quick And The Dead’. It’s been a great joy to finally release it onto streaming services. One thing that’s special about that album is that it doesn’t sound like anyone else and it came from hearts that hold a deep love of music. You can listen to it at patrickwilliams.info and read my interview with Voyage Magazine about the making of that album.

Making music a daily habit has allowed me to learn drums, bass, and piano. Becoming a multiinstrumentalist allowed me to make my solo album, ‘For The Sake Of The Dead’, which I released in June. That album was written in memoriam to loved ones who had passed away. It was a way for me to channel my grief and loss and grow it into something new.
In 2021, I joined a rock band called RetroFusion and started writing songs for the band with my great friend Rich Spangenberg. Singing and playing guitar in a rock band is a completely different creative experience. I’ve grown as a singer, songwriter, and performer. The muse takes a different form when I show up for the band. Recently, I produced an album of high energy original songs for the band. We released our album ‘Mystic Collision’ this year and are now performing it live. You can listen and read backstories at RetroFusion.info.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

First, I had to re-adopt the identity of being a songwriter, which meant I would have to show up for music every day and start writing songs. Making music a daily habit meant I had to quit wasting so much time on passive escapes like news, sports, games, and other entertainment. These short term pleasures were distractions that were stealing my time and bringing me down because they weren’t returning anything lasting or meaningful. It’s a pervasive struggle for me to push against the currents of passive pleasures. It’s hard work, but not doing so is a much harder life. It’s hard to do what’s best for me, and to seek meaning over pleasure. Passivity and comfort make ruts that deepen and are hard to leave. Meaningful habits take my energy and intention but they give much more than they take. When I make songwriting a daily habit I am deliberately making the effort to join the muse instead of waiting for inspiration to come to me, so I’m far more likely to encounter inspiration. I have to give it the respect it is due. I can’t expect to ride a wave unless I go to the beach. I can’t expect to hone my craft or learn how to ride different kinds of waves if I’m unpracticed and unprepared. Something special happens when I simply show up, rain or shine, and honor the muse. Old and new ideas may come together. I might write a new lyric or find a better way to record. Even on the days when I’m not feeling it I can always pay my daily tithe to creativity by simply showing up. That effort always gets repaid in the days ahead.

Second, I want to show my love for music in all its forms and styles and energies. Love is a great motivator. I want to pay attention to what’s happening within and around me and bring that into the music. I want to say yes, be vulnerable and engaged, and trust where the music leads. I have faith that if I pick up the guitar with an open heart, the music will flow. I believe creativity’s source is an everlasting spring that cannot be contained. No matter what I’m feeling inside, I trust that there is a musical expression for it. I want to receive it, enjoy it, add my love to it, and release it back into the flow. I want to sing with my true voice about real experiences. When I do this, I find that the love I put in is rewarded with a peace and a joy that also cascades to others. It scares me to be open and vulnerable to music, but it’s thrilling to let listeners share the ride with me. What is life if I never engage my courage?

The third thing is persistence. Persistence is my strength, and also my weakness. Persistence keeps me doing what’s important whether I want to or not. Its energy is prolific, and makes me expectant and impatient. It gives old ideas new life, such as restoring the songs from my first demo album, ‘The Quick And The Dead’, or working to bring orphaned ideas together over years, like on the songs ‘Wichita’ and ‘Breakfast with Dalai’. Persistence also drives the tedious, but crucial editing process that separates wheat from chaff. It can also become my weakness if I try to force my will on a song. The process is hard work that is equally inspiring and tedious, but the joy at the end makes it all worthwhile. I know that a new song is something I can enjoy the rest of my life, and be a diary of that time. Sometimes songwriting is the persistence of taking a bunch of ideas, collected over months or years, and challenging myself to combine disparate musical segments. This was the case for the song ‘Breakfast With Dalai’. Each change was written at different times and the transitions and unusual backbeat were a fun new wave to ride. Similarly, I have two versions of the song ‘Leaving’. The one I released is in 4/4 time, but I am very fond of its ¾ time version, which also has a different melody and chorus. It helps me to remember that a song doesn’t have to only be one way. Sometimes the wave splits. I like to ride both and see where each one goes. Bringing a demo to the band is like this. The song completely transforms when others ride the same wave. When I show up, express my love of music, and persist to the end of the ride, lasting and joyful things happen.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Yes, I am interested in forming another band. Thank you for reading this article and checking out my music. If you relate to it and want to explore collaborating in a band setting please visit patrickwilliams.info and email me at the contact address there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.patrickwilliams.info
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@PatrickWilliamsSongs
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@patrickwilliams.info

  RetroFusion Band: www.RetroFusion.info

Image Credits

RetroFusion band image by Nabeel Jaitapker