Wisconsin Singer-Songwriter Hayward Williams Releases New Album, 'Pretenders'

Singer-songwriter Hayward Williams finished writing and recording his new album,Pretenders, last October. A lot has happened, both in the world and in the life of Hayward Williams in the 13 months since. But that doesn’t make the songs on Pretenders any less relevant.

"I have some more political tunes than I normally have and I wrote them before the election," Williams explains. "And I was like, are these still going to be relevant?" He pauses. "Sadly in a lot of ways they still are."

The new album roars to life Saturday night with a CD release show at Anodyne Coffee in Walker’s Point. Ahead of the show, Hayward Williams came by the Lake Effect performance studio chat and offered some unplugged versions of some of the songs on the new album.