Andre Williams learning to Deal With It at age 72

Meeting the charming, lanky and surprisingly subdued underground legend Andre Williams, one would never guess the many lifetimes he has lived. At the age of 72, he has spent a half-century making music, with some estimated 300 tracks registered to BMI. Yet, Williams' longtime struggle with drug addiction rendered him homeless in the 80s, stalled the recording of his most recent album and nearly cost him his life.

Raised in the now-defunct Ida B. Wells housing project on Chicago’s South Side, Williams moved to Detroit when he was a teen; it was there he kicked off his recording career at Fortune Records. Soon after, he served as artist, writer and producer for Motown Records, and later Chicago’s Chess Records. Early in his career he released a string of popular singles, many featuring double entendres (usually involving meat products) and his style of talk-singing. He has collaborated with many renowned artists, including Little Stevie Wonder (whose debut, "Thank You For Loving Me," he co-wrote) and Ike Turner, who led him to cocaine addiction.

Williams' recently released album, Can You Deal With It?, in many ways chronicles his life musically and personally. In the midst of recording, Williams suffered a drug-induced seizure that landed him in the hospital. By all accounts, this record was to be his last. “It was a [combination] of a lot of things, it was overdoing the alcohol and the drugs and the neglect of my health,” explains Williams. “And [I was] just overworked, and put all of that together and it just came down all at one time-- and it developed into a pretty serious situation.”

The album was only half finished, but Williams recovered and got sober-- for a while. Deal With It was being recorded in New Orleans with some self-proclaimed partier/musicians aptly named The New Orleans Hellhounds, who booked a follow-up session during Mardi Gras 2007. It was an obviously bad environment for a barely-clean Williams, and he relapsed in a big way. A few months later, once again sober, Williams finally recorded his vocal parts in Chicago and the album's nine tracks were complete.

Deal With It houses the many genres Williams has touched throughout his musical career-- from R&B flavorings (“If You Leave Me,” “Your Woman”) to country-tipped (“Rosalie”) to punk (“Never Had A Problem," plus the title track)-- all fused with his trademark raunchy grit and wit.

While Williams has been sober now for seven months, “It hasn’t been easy,” he says. “But my whole life has not been easy. Seem like I always pick the rough way to go, so this is just another one of those hurdles.”

While he is taking things slowly-- “one day at a time”-- he has already begun recording with renowned artist Jon Langford (Waco Brothers, Mekons) and hopes to start producing others’ records when the time is right. “I’m more productive ‘cause I’m coming up with better songs... I’m writing songs that make more sense than when I was writing those don’t-give-a-damn songs-- that was during the drinking/drugging period, I’d just write something on the top of my head and the hell with it-- that would be a song. But now I’m doing more composing now than I was doing at that time.”

Given a chance at another lifetime, Andre Williams' future may just hold his best offerings yet.

Appearing:
Andre Williams' Late Night Pajama & Dance Party @ Hideout
Tuesday, August 26 -- 11 p.m., free! (21+)
Prizes will be awarded to the best PJ-wearers

Related links:
Andre Williams on MySpace
Bloodshot Records: Andre Williams
YouTube: The Sadies & Andre Williams - "Agile, Mobile and Hostile" (Live in Chicago)