Marlon Williams

Marlon Williams, a New Zealand-based singer and songwriter of wide-ranging abilities, shapes atmospheric indie folk material built around storytelling and informed by country, soul, bluegrass, and pop sources that frequently explore shadowy emotional terrain. His authoritative singing recalls the styles of Richard Hawley, Porter Wagoner, Chris Isaak, and Roy Orbison. Emerging in 2015 with material rooted in brooding folk and bluegrass, he moved almost entirely to soulful retro-pop for the chart-topping 2018 breakup album Make Way for Love. Following an extensive international tour, he released a 2019 live album before collaborating with Canadian duo Kacy & Clayton on the 2020 set Plastic Bouquet. His first solo album of the subsequent decade, the pop-driven My Boy, appeared in 2022.

Born in the coastal town of Lyttelton and raised in a Māori household that offered an eclectic listening diet spanning the Beatles, PJ Harvey, Townes Van Zandt, Mozart, Gram Parsons, Echo & the Bunnymen, Elvis, and the Band, Williams studied classical music at the University of Canterbury. The program's strict framework felt overly confining, so he sought other avenues to channel his creativity. After sharpening his craft through performances at bars and pubs with his band the Unfaithful Ways, which developed a strong following and issued two well-received records, Williams relocated to Australia to tap into Melbourne's active music scene; the 2011 Christchurch earthquake also factored into his decision to move.

In 2012 he issued Sad But True, Vol. 1, the initial installment in a trilogy of award-winning collaborations with popular Kiwi country singer Delaney Davidson; Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 followed in 2013 and 2014. Williams' self-titled solo debut arrived in 2015 and entered the New Zealand albums chart at number ten. The widely praised LP reached international listeners the next year via Dead Oceans Records. Early February 2018 brought the single "Come to Me" ahead of his sophomore album Make Way for Love, issued later that month. The record addressed the aftermath of his split from fellow Kiwi singer/songwriter Aldous Harding and rose directly to number one on the New Zealand albums chart. The following year Williams delivered his first concert album, Live at Auckland Town Hall. He connected with Canadian contemporary folk duo Kacy & Clayton for the joint release Plastic Bouquet in 2020. After a 2021 collaboration with Lorde on Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest," Williams supplied another cover, this time of Jerry Jeff Walker's folk classic "Mr. Bojangles," for the 2022 French film En attendant Bojangles. His return to original material arrived later that year with My Boy, his third proper solo album. The pop-driven collection examined themes of masculinity, vitality, and social and cultural legacies.