Facts and Stats: Between February and August 2014, Pete Williams returned to Sheffield to record his second solo album at Tesla Studios, Sheaf Bank with some help from a funding campaign through the now defunct PledgeMusic. Roughnecks + Roustabouts was released in 2015 and features guest appearances from Mick Talbot, Clive Mellor, Fred Skidmore, and Josie Lawrence. It was produced by Mike Timm and engineered by David Glover. Half the songs were solely written by Williams, with others co-written variously with drummer Dean Beresford, guitarist Shez Sheridan, pianist Danny McCormack and producer Timm (who also adds Melodica and glockenspiel).
Contributors to the PledgeMusic campaign were lucky to receive an exclusive digital only four track live release The Pete Williams Band Live At Yellow Arch Sheffield 20/3/15.
What The Critics Thought: The Daily Mirror (March 2015) described this as an “emotive second solo album”. Q Magazine (March 2015) said Williams’ music is more direct than Kevin Rowland’s; he’s a “warm, self-doubting narrator and his hook-laden tales are the work of a genuine craftsman”. Mojo (March 2015) said these were a set of “pleasingly grizzled yet groovy teenage vignettes”.
What We Think: Roughnecks + Roustabouts is charming and full of character, and excels when at it most confessional; “deep down inside I was really beside myself”, Williams admits on his “First Real Job” in an Oldbury factory, finally deciding that he’s going to do what he wants to do. “Let Me Like You” is playful in its disclosure of being a little contrary.
As per his debut the vocals thrill by swooping and soaring and well match the lyrical content. Actor Josie Lawrence adds local colour to the spoken word “Valda”; the open-hearted “We Came We Saw” begins with a spirited whistle and ends in laughter.
The players also shine with some exceptional moments – Talbot’s energetic organ work on “Let Me Like You” and “La Cienega Song”, McCormack’s impressive piano line on “People”, and Mellor’s harmonica on the melodic “Breathe My Love”. It’s been said that it’s all in the detail, and here there’s plenty of that – the 417 bus, the platform shoes at a wedding reception – but there is a determined focus on tracks like “Keaton’s Walk” and “Nothing’s Going To Stand In Our Way” which also ensure the listener’s attention.
Label: Basehart Recordings
Release Date: 30 MAR 2015
Poetic Justice 
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