The banjo is one of those instruments that people either love or hate; but it also brought Chris Williams and Kid Reverie together to create “Something From Nothing”.

After hearing Kid Reverie’s banjo playing, Chris Williams knew that he had to track down the sound…and the man.  After stumbling onto Steve Varney’s (Kid Reverie) website, he noticed that the artist gave lessons.  Williams noted, “I was so taken with his work and his instrument that I’d pay to talk to him.”

 Williams decided to sign up for a few; but what started out as a banjo lesson turned into song creating collaborations.  Kid Reverie added, “Chris always came to our lessons with a solid idea. I routinely found myself saying something like, ‘This is great, now let’s make it a song’.”

Out of those sessions came the album “Something from Nothing” which is set for a March 3 release.  With the exception of the drums on five songs and some cat toy noises, Williams and Kid Reverie played all of the instruments themselves with Reverie serving as the master engineer.

Speaking on the album and the creation process Kid Reverie said, “it took a trying time for both of us and allowed us to open ourselves to a writing partnership that neither of us expected. I am grateful for this amazing musical experience and hope everyone enjoys these songs as much as we loved creating them!”

He added, “rarely had such deep collaboration with another songwriter. For so long it felt like we were just doing lessons. I think it took both of us quite a while to realize we were co-writing songs and making an album.”

The first single from the upcoming album “Half a Mile” has just been released.  The foundation of the song began while Williams was at the hospital with his mother who died during the Covid pandemic.

Williams also spoke on the creative process saying, “every writing session we had, I was blown away by Steve’s in-depth knowledge of theory, song structure and catalog of hundreds of songs and examples within each at his fingertips. Very useful when reaching for ideas and inspiration.”

“Something from Nothing” tracklisting:
“Morning”
“Fog”
“Half a Mile”
“Himalayan Hills”
“Warning Bell”
“Asleep”
“Pretenders”
“Gambit”
“Dappled Grey”
“Glimmer”
“Carolina”
“Mercury”

Feature photo credit: courtesy of IVPR Nashville