Country Single of the Eighties: Don Williams, “If Hollywood Don’t Need You (Honey I Still Do)”
One of my greater frustrations of the new century was watching Lady A’s “Need You Now” become a massive crossover hit, despite it being a clunky rewrite of the flawless drunk dial record “I May Hate Myself in the Morning,” which Lee Ann Womack had scored with only a few years earlier.
I wonder if Don Williams felt the same way about “Meet Me in Montana,” which we will cover a little bit down the road. There’s something about the specificity of the details in “If Hollywood Don’t Need You” that makes it resonate so much more powerfully. Perhaps it’s also the way that Williams’ humble delivery mirrors the man left behind. He wants her back, but not at the expense of her dreams. He’s willing to be No. 2 on her list until she crosses No. 1 off, if she ever does:
Well, I hope you make the big timeI hope your dreams come trueBut if Hollywood don’t need youHoney, I still do
Now is as good a time as any to remind y’all of Don’s secret weapon in the studio: Garth Fundis. He didn’t work with as many artists as Jimmy Bowen did, but he operated at a similar level of excellence, and he had the good taste to spend most of his career focused on Don Williams and Trisha Yearwood, two artists who had lengthy radio careers defined by consistent material and thoughtful performances.
Records like this helped lay the groundwork for the nineties boom, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.
“If Hollywood Don’t Need You (Honey I Still Do)” gets an A.
Don Williams was nicknamed the Gentle Giant at a not-quite towering 6’1”. He was giant, though, when it came to his success on the country charts. With a nearly two-decade-long run in the top ten of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs, Williams remained steadfast as the genre moved through a number of different aesthetic eras, carving out his own timeless, velvety niche with his distinctive voice and style.
The native Texan had already spent years pushing for hits as a member of the ’60s folk group the Pozo-Seco Singers (best known for their song “Time”) by the time he made it to Nashville and launched his solo career. He had hits almost immediately, and rarely strayed from the sound and collaborators he established early on. Williams produced and wrote as well as sang and played guitar; especially as a producer, he was able to keep his rock solid but still understated soft country-rock sound constant through dozens of songs.
