Marlon Williams (musician)

Williams founded The Unfaithful Ways at 17 with his high school friends Sebastian Warne and Ben Woolley, along with a science teacher at the school, Simon Brouwer. They quickly gained national attention in New Zealand, playing the Big Day Out, and were nominated for a New Zealand Music Award in 2011.[6][7]

Williams met acclaimed country singer Delaney Davidson in 2011, and the pair began performing as a duo. Over two years they released three volumes of the series, Sad But True: The Secret History of Country Music Songwriting, garnering critical acclaim, including the New Zealand Country Song and Country Album of the year in 2013.[8] Their final album was released in February 2014.[9]

Relocating to Melbourne, Australia, in mid-2013, Williams began performing solo around town, self-releasing the live album Live At La Niche,[10] touring Australia with US acts Robert Ellis, Cory Chisel and playing Mullumbimby Music Festival.[3] During this time, he lived in Melbourne's inner-city suburb of Abbotsford at the Yarra Hotel.[3]

He began recording his debut solo album in Spring 2014. Despite living in Melbourne, the record was recorded over a year at a Lyttelton studio.[3] That year, he put together his supporting band, The Yarra Benders, aptly named after the pub/hotel they worked and lived in.[11][12] The Yarra Benders are musicians Gus Agars, Dave Khan and Ben Woolley, and previously guitarist Dan Parsons.[13][11]

In April 2015, Williams released his debut self-titled solo album to critical acclaim, debuting at number 10 on the New Zealand Albums Chart,[14] and number 31 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart.[15] The album was called "captivating" by Rolling Stone Australia,[16] a "revelation" by Metro Magazine[17] and "one of the most impressive country records this year" by ToneDeaf.[18] That same years, he did his first national television performance on SBS Australia's music quiz show RocKwiz, and at the Sydney Opera House for TEDxSydney.[19] In September 2015, Williams signed to American independent label Dead Oceans who then released and distributed the album worldwide on 2 February 2016.[20][21]

Beginning in June 2014, Williams toured nearly non-stop for three-and-a-half years. While working on his record in 2014, Williams embarked on a co-headline tour with Melody Pool, playing 26 shows around Australia and New Zealand,[22] before closing the year with performances at Queenscliff Music Festival, Wave Rock Weekender, Mullumbimby Music Festival, and a full band tour alongside Justin Townes Earle and Lindi Ortega in Australia and New Zealand.[23] He toured Europe for the first time in May 2015, and in Fall 2015 began performing across the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and Australia until November 2017, which included stints opening for Paul Kelly, Lucinda Williams, and Kasey Chambers, and Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop.[24][21][20] Williams and the Yarra Benders opened two shows in 2017 for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on their Summer '17 tour.

On 16 February 2018, Williams released his album Make Way for Love.[25] To support the record, Willams first toured the United States and Europe before playing a series of European and Australian summer music festival dates through November 2018.

Williams released a live album Live at Auckland Town Hall was released a year later on 1 February 2019 as a double album.[26] The album was recorded in May 2018 at the historic Auckland Town Hall. Williams and the Yarra Benders continued to tour extensively through the end of 2019. In May 2020, Williams premiered a full live concert film of the "Live at Auckland Town Hall" album. The film ran 109 minutes for free through YouTube and Facebook followed by a live Q&A with fans.[27]

On 14 June 2016, Marlon Williams and the Yarra Benders made their US television debut as the musical guests on the American late-night talk show Conan.[34] Williams appeared as a subject of the 2018 documentary The New Sound of Country on Prime Rocks in New Zealand, alongside Tami Neilson, Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders.[35]