Cotton Bell is the long awaited, full-length follow up to this troubadour’s critically acclaimed debut, Another Sailor’s Dream (Machine). Recorded with some of the areas finest talent in the harsh cold winter months of Milwaukee, this promising new artist emerges with what could be his best work yet. RECORDING NOTES - “[Cotton Bell] has VIBE. Everything is based around a live take of musicians playing together in a room. Hayward did not "fix" or even "punch in " anything. We did whole takes until we got something that felt best to all of us. The core of the record is just people in a room playing music...that is really the production. It’s what we both wanted to capture and it worked.” ~ Jon Christopher Hughes, producer, engineer, mixer

TRACK LISTING ( Preview Tracks )
1. Cotton Bell
2. In Doorways
3. Mockingbird
4. This Ain't My Bed
5. Every Night
6. I Will Understand (Mary Ann)
7. New Year's Eve
8. Great Plains
9. Just Like Us

Hayward Williams’ “Another Sailor’s Dream” is a freewheeling, shotgun wedding of folk, blues and rootsy country rock, all filled with a gorgeous blend of ache, gristle and whiskey-toned gruffness. The album is comprised of songs that walk a perfect line between the sweet and bitter, and the sentimental and cynical, and is perfectly bookended by the opening track, “The Ballad of Benson Creek,” and the finale, Williams’ own earnest version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.” The eleven performances are carried out by an impressive trio of multi-instrumentalists, including accomplished singer/songwriter and co-producer Peter Mulvey (Signature Sounds Recording), Dan McMahon (Wandering Sons), along with Williams on vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar and piano.

TRACK LISTING ( Preview Tracks )
1. The Ballad Of Benson Creek
2. Redwoods
3. You Were Right
4. Doctors
5. Careful Please
6. Problems With Hemingway
7. A Glance Back
8. Who’s It Gonna Be Today?
9. Devil’s Lament
10. A Song For Lou
11. Thunder Road

Hayward Williams’ second independent release (2005), produced by Peter Mulvey and featuring four stripped down, acoustic pieces written with an American Civil War theme. Built on a foundation of folk, blues, and soul Hayward's songs in performance display the raw intensity common to these forms, tempered by his own easy self-possession and wry charm.

TRACK LISTING ( Preview Tracks )
1. Ballad of Benson Creek
2. Smoke and Mirrors
3. Toe to Toe
4. Lazarus

Hayward Williams's 2005, full length debut. A Wilco-esque collision of the radio and folk idioms that combines smart hooks with deeply textured studio atmospherics. Uphill/Downhill is an impressive collection of 12 original songs that moves elegantly from heartbreak to self-examination to wonder without the self-seriousness that might ordinarily drag such wanderings down.

TRACK LISTING ( Preview Tracks )
1. All at Once
2. Paper Hat
3. Simply Put
4. Before it Begins
5. Plaster of Paris
6. Somebody
7. Wear Me Out
8. My Swift Love
9. Problems with Hemingway
10. Cleverly Disturbed
11. Good Morning
12. 12