Award-winning artist and songwriter Joy Williams has signed a worldwide co-publishing deal with Spirit Music Nashville, one of the world’s leading independent music publishing companies. In 2021, Spirit entered into a multi-faceted agreement with the four-time GRAMMY® award-winner that included the acquisition of compositions from her various song catalogs, including her GRAMMY® winning work as part of the duo The Civil Wars, as well as several masters that she controls. In addition, Spirit announced it would administer Williams’ most recent solo album Front Porch, as well as her compositions going forward. Through this new deal with Williams, Spirit Music Nashville will also publish her works on a go-forward basis.
“Joy Williams is a gift to music. She is an incredibly talented singer and songwriter,” said Frank Rogers, Chief Creative Officer, Spirit Music Group/CEO, Spirit Music Nashville. “We are thrilled to have her as a part of the Spirit Music family and look forward to continuing this wonderful partnership.”
“I’m thrilled to continue to partner with the talented team at Spirit for all my writing adventures,” said Joy Williams. “Whether it’s writing with other artists, writing music for TV/film, or for my new project, their support is a major asset in helping me level up along my creative path.”
Joy Williams began her career as a solo artist, receiving 11 Dove Award nominations before signing with Warner/Chappell and shifting her focus to songwriting. Toward the end of her Warner/Chappell deal in 2008, Joy partnered with John Paul White to form the four-time GRAMMY® award-winning Folk, Country and Americana duo The Civil Wars. The duo parted ways in 2014, and she has since resumed her career as a solo artist and songwriter. Her most recent studio album, Front Porch, was released in 2019 and nominated for Best Folk Album at the 62nd GRAMMY® Awards.
Joy Williams’ songwriting credits include The Civil Wars albums Live at Eddie’s Attic (2009), Poison & Wine (2009), Barton Hollow (2011), and The Civil Wars (2013), which includes Grammy-winning works Barton Hollow (Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2011), “Barton Hollow” (Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance in 2011), “Safe & Sound” with Taylor Swift (Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2012), and “From This Valley” (Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance in 2013). Her solo work included the albums One of Those Days (2009), Songs from This/Songs From That (2009), We Mapped the World (2010), Venus (2015), and Venus (Acoustic) (2016), as well as the song “Stand By You,” which was recorded by Rachel Platten and peaked at #37 on Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard Adult Top 40. She has also had sync placements for companies including Target, Oscar Meyer, Toyota, State Farm, Apple and countless others.
2022 has marked a banner year for Spirit Music Nashville. In September of this year, Spirit Music Group announced the appointment of Frank Rogers to Chief Creative Officer. Over the past year, 70% of Spirit Music Nashville’s current writer roster has had at least one charted single. This includes nine #1 singles, ten Top 10 singles, and 11 Top 30 songs in 2021 as well as ACM Single of the Year “I Hope You’re Happy Now” – Carly Pearce and Lee Brice (via Jonathan Singleton) and Album of the Year Starting Over by Chris Stapleton. The company also publishes Music Row’s Song of the Year, “Hell of a View” – Eric Church (via Monty Criswell). The company received four CMA nominations for Single of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Musical Event of the Year and took home six ASCAP Country awards. Spirit Music Nashville/Spirit Fluid writer Frank Ray earned the title of being most added song on country radio by a new artist (by impact day) driven by his single “Country Looks Good On You” (the song was also produced by Spirit Music Nashville CEO, Frank Rogers who is a multi-platinum producer/songwriter in his own right with 43 #1 hits, 75+ Top 20 songs and multiple RIAA certified multi-Platinum/Platinum/Gold records to his list of production/songwriting credits). The company also has a publishing interest in the top two country songs of the decade and top two country albums of the decade with “Meant To Be” and “Body Like A Backroad” and Traveller/Chris Stapleton and Montevallo/Sam Hunt.
