Release Info/credits
KEEPING THE HEARTFELT NEO-SOUL AND

ECLECTIC GROOVES FLOWING, LYDELL WILLIAMS

SHARES A POWERFUL, PERSONAL “LOVE JONES”-STYLED

TESTIMONY ON HIS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED

FULL-LENGTH ALBUM ‘WITHOUT YOU’

Sharing All He’s Learned Lately About Love,

The Multi-Talented Indie Singer/Songwriter and Producer Gets

The Seduction Off to A Vibey, Up-tempo Start With The

Upcoming Drop of The Lead Single “Virginia Is for Lovers”

Adopted by the Virginia State Travel Service 50 years ago, “Virginia is For Lovers” has become one of the most beloved and iconic slogans in the world. While it’s meant a lot of different things to many people over time, the one constant has been spreading love. With the release of his fresh new single with that title, Richmond-based multi-talented singer/songwriter and producer Lydell Williams spreads that love while continuing to fulfill his mission of getting us back to the roots of R&B and Neo-soul with substance.

Driven by an uptempo, vibey and ultra-seductive flow, “Virginia is for Lovers” is, for Williams, “a great representation of what love is, and my recent experiences with love, Richmond being considered by many the city of love, period.” It’s also the perfect intro to the singer’s highly anticipated upcoming full-length album Without You, whose tracks groove together to create a powerful and emotional, moment by moment chronicle of a profound recent relationship in his life, which played out very much like the plotline of the classic 1997 romantic drama film “Love Jones.”

Without You is the Arkansas native’s first release since 2016’s The Sound of My Melodies, an epic 17-track collection that laid the previous four years of his heart on the line via a whirlwind of sensual melodic vibes, dope harmonies, lush balladry and dance floor grooves. In an ambitious marketing move, he released a total of eight singles from the album over a period of months. Williams plans to market the joints on Without You the same way, releasing eight of the ten tracks as singles over time. He plans to follow “Virginia is for Lovers” with “Fifty Shades of Red,” a sultry, dreamy and easy grooving expression of intimacy featuring a compelling rap by Richmond native Radio B.

With its predominance of up-tempo songs, Without You is very different in overall tone from The Sound of My Melodies, featuring a wide variety of styles, including dance songs, what Williams calls “babymakers,” jazz elements and, in the “Without You Intro” and “Hold To What You Love Outro,” dramatic spoken word poetry by Williams introducing the story and later making peace with the wonderful love he experienced and lessons learned along the way. “Sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down,” he recites. “During those down, there’s where your growth is found.” Serving as the project’s co-producer, the singer works with a variety of top-level producers, including Gregory Mitchell, The Few, Howard McNair, Jason Watson and Mark McCutcheon.

Key tracks include “Beside Me,” a passionate, desire filled ballad with Virginia based R&B singer Deli Rowe that rolls like the contemporary equivalent of those classic Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duets; the sexy and immersive, richly textured Neo-soul seduction “Blues for Nina,” whose title cleverly references Nia Long’s character name in “Love Jones”; the sparsely arranged, slow simmering, Prince-like “I Need You”; and “Fall Back,” the so-called “breakup tune” of the batch that, with its Michael Jackson-Bruno Mars lighthearted pop-funk influence, takes the sad, confusing moment and turns it into a positive reflection on all that’s come before.

Williams has been on a creative and career roll since his 2008 debut EP The Sound caught the attention of the industry and his 2013 mixtape album A Peace of My Soul, Vol. 1 established him as a visionary indie force with a fresh sound to be reckoned with. He has performed up and down the East Coast at many prominent venues and festivals, from The Howard Theatre and Constitution Hall in Washington DC to the Hippodrome Theatre in Richmond, the Richmond Jazz Festival and Hampton Jazz Festival. Over the years, he has also opened for pop/R&B superstars Miguel, Dave Hollister, Eric Roberson, Dwele, Liv Warfield and Raheem DeVaughn.

“All of my music comes from my life experiences,” says Williams of Without You. “I guess it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I met this woman at a meet and greet in Richmond, and very quickly I felt so connected to her it was as if we had been together in another lifetime. I wasn’t looking for this love at all, but it had such a profound impact that I wrote 21 songs in the first two weeks after I met her. There was a profound level of creativity, and though there has now been a ‘falling back’ with us going our separate ways, I wanted to share verbatim all of the wonderful moments and feelings I had with this person the best way I know how, through music. As I continue to evolve as an artist, I appreciate the way the universe continues to mold me so that I can continue to experience growth and share great music with the world.”

Song/album purchase link
https://music.apple.com/us/album/without-you/1506054831

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