Rusty Williams may not be a household name, but without his musical talent and influence on his granddaughter, Hayley Williams, the band Paramore might never have become one either.
Hayley, now a three-time Grammy winner with millions of albums sold, spent her childhood in Meridian, Mississippi, listening to her beloved “Grandat” play the kind of breezy soft-rock tunes that just surfaced on his debut album, Grand Man, released last week by her Paramore bandmate Zac Farro’s Congrats Records.
It’s a long time coming for the senior Williams, now 78, who recorded the thirteen songs on Grand Man with his friend Frank Morris five decades ago. The lost recordings—largely love songs written for his wife, Sharon—became part of family lore, and Hayley wasn’t sure they really existed until they resurfaced last year. In fact, the only recordings of Grandat she’d heard were the ones she or others made on a phone. One of those impromptu snippets even made it on her 2020 solo album, Petals for Armor, sampled on the song “Crystal Clear.” But the trove that became Grand Man brought his legacy fully into focus.
“We didn’t even know the songs existed in this form,” Hayley says. “I had only ever heard him play on piano a couple of things he had written.” But once Farro heard the songs, he agreed they were special. “Zac was like, ‘I have to put this out. People have to hear this.’ So, it’s very special, and it feels like a family affair.”
Hayley and Rusty, now with a musical legacy all his own, sat down with G&G to discuss their intertwined musical lives.
What was it like to finally hear these recordings again, and how long had it been?
Rusty: The first time was 1974, and the next time was 2025 [laughs]. It’s been a while, but it’s great. I never expected it to happen to start with.
Hayley, how did these songs impact you while growing up?
Hayley: I remember him playing “Angel Eyes” and “Riverboat Gambler” around the house, and he was always playing piano. By the time I came around, I don’t think he had a guitar in the house really anymore, but he did teach me to play the drums, and we always were talking about music or listening to music. I feel like I got my musical education as a kid from Grandat showing me. He always talked about the Four Tops and the Temptations and Elvis and Climax and Bread. There was always music going on, whether it was him singing something or showing me something that he was a big fan of.
When did you know Hayley got the music gene, too?
Rusty: She and a friend of hers would do shows at church or a talent show, and they did one at [Highland Park in Meridian] where they sang together, but then they’d each do a separate song. And when Hayley did hers, the kids got out of the chairs wanting to touch her. I said, ‘That’s Elvis in a female body.’ I knew it, no doubt.
Hayley: Grandat wrote all these songs with his friend Frank, and it’s like they were a band even though they weren’t. But I know how important that feeling is, and that’s what I was searching for, whether I was singing with the choir at church or when I moved up here [to Nashville] and got in a band with the guys.
What has it been like watching her tour the world and win Grammys with Paramore?
Hayley: He cries every time he talks about Paramore [laughs].
Rusty: I’m sorry [laughing, wiping a tear]. Seeing her on stage with that band, I’m telling you, if it didn’t rip your heart out something’s wrong with you. Everybody else would sit. I had to get down by the stage, and I’d stand there and watch everything. It brings something out of you, and you say, well, maybe I had a little bit to do with that. You never know.
All those years passed without hearing these recordings. Why release them to a broader audience now?
Hayley: Really it was Zac wanting to hear everything as a collection. But at a certain point, [to Rusty] I don’t know if you were just wanting to reminisce, but suddenly he was looking for all these songs, and that’s why he had originally asked Taylor [York, also of Paramore] to put stuff in a form that he could listen to in his car, just for him to enjoy. But once we all heard what he was listening to, we were like, hold on, this is kind of a big deal. It’s such a time capsule. You can hear exactly where they were at, and there really is a magic to it.
