Sam Williams Releases Live Acoustic Version of ‘The World: Alone’

Sam Williams released a haunting acoustic video of his emotional song, “The World: Alone.” The song was released in October as a tribute to his late sister Katie, who was killed in a car accident in June. In the performance video, Williams sits surrounded by candles at Beechwood Hall, the farmhouse of his legendary grandfather, Hank Williams Sr. Dressed in a black blazer and black hat with sparkles, Williams lets his raw voice shine through as he sings the longing lyrics about missing out on the chance to travel the world with his sister.

“I was gonna show you the world, there’s so much for us to see / It was supposed to be you and me, but we got this disharmony / But now I gotta go it alone, and I don’t know what I’m gonna do / I was gonna show you the world, now who’m I supposed to show it to,” he sings in the chorus.

Throughout the song, Williams sings about scenes in Barcelona, Rome and Amsterdam, and the candlelit setting in the video only heightens the feeling of wanderlust.

“The energy in the house was so right for this,” says Williams about the video. “I live with a lot of nostalgia but occasionally a moment like this, with the history of my grandfather owning this house, happens really eerily. I remember a feeling of pain laying over the session. The raw emotion and clarity make this video. It feels more conversational and even more relatable. Sometimes you can’t imagine the world without someone and that must become your reality.” 

When he released the song, Williams shared that he wrote the tune about a year before the passing of his sister, mostly writing it about his desire to travel Europe. However, after losing his sister, the song took on a whole different meaning.

“A year later my sister was tragically killed in June,” he said. “As the months went by, when I would come back to this song, it touched me in a different way. I realized that I wrote this song, a year prior, about how badly I wanted to show Katie the world. I had no idea I would ever lose her. One day I had an epiphany that she is with God and can see the entire world now, without my help. I wanted to honor her with releasing this song on her birthday, because she was always so proud of my career.” 

Williams chatted more about “The World: Alone” on a recent episode of Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen.