Hilary Williams is country music royalty. The singer-songwriter is the granddaughter of country music legend Hank Williams, and the daughter of Hank Williams, Jr. So it might seem surprising that it took Williams until this year to release her debut album, My Lucky Scars, but the 39-year-old waited until she knew she had something she wanted to say.
“I put an EP out five years ago,” Williams told PopCulture.com. “I just took my time making this album, finding the songs, finding the producers and everything.”
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My Lucky Scars is Williams’ honest reflection of the near-fatal crash she and her sister, Holly, were in 2006.
“My sister and I were in a terrible car accident,” recounted the singer. “I died twice, and came back to life. I had 30 surgeries. It took me awhile in recovery to make music.”
“It was hard,” she continued, “but it was therapeutic also, to move through the emotions. Now I’m in a great place in my life.”
Williams still has some physical challenges because of the accident 12 years ago, but she is doing all she can to stay as healthy as possible.
“I’m good,” Williams maintained. “I have my good and bad days. But I do Pilates and do physical therapy, and get massages and eat healthy. That all helps.”
Williams previously revealed that My Lucky Scars was inspired by the physical scars she still has, as a result of the tragic accident.
“[My Lucky Scars] means the scars on my body are God’s saving grace and I am very lucky and grateful to be alive,” Williams told PEOPLE. “They are a reminder every day to serve my purpose while I am here.”
Williams’ truck did a 360 degree turn, and flipped four times, making it nothing short of miraculous that Williams even survived.
“They said I shouldn’t have lived over 20 minutes because I lost six pints of blood,” Williams recalled. “Before I even got on the helicopter, when I was on the stretcher, my blood pressure was 55 over nothing and that is when I went into cardiac arrest for the first time. I felt like I was drowning in a pool and couldn’t breathe.”
Both Williams’ famous father, and her mother, Becky White, are supportive of their daughter’s musical endeavors.
“They have encouraged me every single day, which I can’t thank them enough for,” Williams shared. “My dad never forced anything on my siblings or me and has always wanted us to find our own voice, which I think is pretty spectacular. But I do think he was pretty happy that I inherited his musical talent.”
Williams knows she is part of a long line of musical talent, but she’s determined to forge her own way, instead of relying on just name recognition.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “I just try not to think about it, because that’s very overwhelming. I’m just going to do my own thing and follow my own path.”
My Lucky Scars is available now and can be purchased here.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Rick Diamond
