IN recent years JR Williams has spent most of his time devoted to his dairy farm in northern Victoria.
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After many years in the entertainment industry, as a performer and host a weekly country music radio program, JR has returned to country music after a long stint back on the farm trying to get through the drought.
With a new album titled 2015 released, he is again focusing on his career in the music business.
Okay, let's get the disclaimer out of the way here. I grew up in Deniliquin in southern NSW and have known John since I was a child where his records were played in my childhood home.
As a teenager I learnt most of what was happening in the country music world from JR's Country on the Deni radio station 2QN.
It was a pleasant surprise to see his latest album is a compilation of songs recorded in the late 70s, 80s and 90s along with some more recent recordings.
Some of these songs I had only ever heard on vinyl, such as Baby Without You, duet with Deniese Morrison, and Ride On Down This Road, a rodeo song JR co-wrote with Reg Poole many years ago.
Reg was another artist who would regularly play in Deni, and whose songs were regularly played on JR's Country.
Fifteen Years of Hurt was a song written early in his career when he was finding it hard to source songs and had a go at writing himself.
While JR says song writing is something he felt uncomfortable with, I found myself turning up the volume when Fifteen Years of Hurt started to play.
Looking back on those songs, JR said remembered he and Deniese weren't the only ones to record Baby Without You.
“Funny, I was working with producer Howard Gable at the time of recording this song. (It) just happened he was married to Alison Durban who recorded this with John Farnham.”
Also included on the album are versions of great Australian songs Suvla Bay and White Crosses in the Jungle, included as a tribute to the ANZAC centenary.
“White Crosses in the Jungle is a great Rick & Thel song,” JR said. “When I travelled with them I heard it every night and fell in love with it.
“I came back and recorded it on my next album.”
This year JR returned to the Tamworth Country Music Festival after several years where his weekly spot hosting JR's Country comprised most of his work in the country music industry.
As a long-time fan of his music it's great to see him back.
