Welcome to the home on the Web o

If ever there was proof that big things come in small packages, it’s Rachel Williams. There’s more talent in this (almost) five-foot-two redhead than in a whole jukebox full of hits. When Rachel is delivering her brand of rockin’ and R&B country, she has the audience on their feet and movin’ to the beat, but she can just as easily wring their hearts with a ballad she seems to pull out of her very own soul.

Rachel credits her grandfather with introducing her to country music early on. He took her to a Judds concert when she was only two years old, and she was hooked then and there. For years, she wouldn’t go to sleep unless a country cassette was playing. But during the day, Rachel was the one doing the singing.

Rachel graduated from singing at home with a hairbrush “microphone” to public performances in shows at school. (She says she learned to “ham it up”—pun intended—in the Three Piggy Opera in second grade.) It wasn’t long before she was winning talent contests and singing professionally at fairs and other events. It must come as no surprise to those who heard and saw her sing as a child that Rachel has grown up to be the confident, exciting performer that she is today. There’s just no holding back talent and drive like hers.

That talent and drive has certainly been evident to the contest judges who have awarded Rachel first prize in numerous talent competitions over the years. Most recently, Rachel won the Michigan title in the Colgate Country Showdown. Previous contestants in the Showdown have included Martina McBride and LeAnn Rimes.

But Rachel’s talent has been recognized far beyond the borders of Michigan, or even the Midwest. In early 2004, she was one of the top 15 contestants nationwide in the USA Network’s Nashville Star 2 television program. Anyone who saw her live performance for that show knows how she can light up a room and get the audience moving. Contest finalist Lance Miller says, “Rachel has the kind of pure voice and confident stage presence that just blow you away.” Apparently, a lot of viewers agreed. Fans from all over the country and across the world sent Rachel e-mail messages after seeing her for the first time on the show. And she’s been in even more demand for radio, TV and live appearances.

What’s Rachel doing now? She’s promoting her new CD on Regaltone Records, “First Day of the Truth.” Recorded in Nashville at a top studio with A-list musicians, this CD allows Rachel to show off the kind of music that she likes best: rockin’, in-your-face country that leaves no doubt where she’s coming from. Echoing Gretchen Wilson’s hit single, Rachel says she’s not the “Barbie doll type.” She lets her gutsy self show, and her audiences love it.

Large audiences have had a chance to show how much they love it when Rachel has opened for such national acts as Diamond Rio, Emerson Drive and Andy Griggs. Opening recently for Wynonna, Rachel and her band brought people to their feet with songs from the new CD. Kevin Cassidy, general manager of the venue at Freedom Hill in Michigan, said they had never had such a response to an opening act before. Little did the Wynonna fans who showed up early know that they’d be going home Rachel Williams fans, too.

Having folks lining up for her autographs and t-shirts was the icing on the cake for Rachel, who had finally met her first and always musical idol, Wynonna Judd.

Want to know more about Rachel? Let’s hear it from her…