Culture
Suggested Listening 2025: Chad Williams
By: Chad Williams
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WOUB Culture’s Suggested Listening series highlights the music that resonated with WOUB Culture contributors and regional artists in 2025. Today we spotlight WOUB DJ Chad Williams.
BIO
Me: Estoteric and musically confused farm boy, by way of Buckeye Lake, OH / Ann Arbor, MI / Portland, OR / Columbus, OH, and now in Athens hanging out with 5 generations of ancestors buried all over this county. I remember as a kid in the ’70s and ’80s listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 and similar programs, and always being miffed when my favorites didn’t make the cut. So I started making my own lists and I’m pretty sure that is what inspired me to get into radio. I’m a playlist junkie, and my radio programs, like me, are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get!
By my estimation, I checked out over 1,500 new albums this year. Here are my favorites for 2025.
1 Kathleen Edwards / Billionaire / Dualtone Records
“Here’s the truth wrapped up in a lie”
Kathleen stepped away from music in 2014 and opened a cafe in her hometown called “Quitters”. She resurfaced in 2020 with Total Freedom and is back this year with her sixth full length and perhaps, finest album to date. Highlighted by the impeccable engineering and mixing work of co-producer Gena Johnson, Kathleen’s bite has never been neither more sharp nor more poignant. I drove up to Columbus last month to see her perform with her fantastic band, and it did not disappoint! Honest music from one of the industry’s most underrated stars.
2 Heretoir / Solastalgia / AOP Records
“This is a world lost in degeneration”
I’m no expert on metal these days, but I’m learning and occasionally, you find something that stands head and shoulders above everything else. I’m not sure where in the metal spectrum this falls, it seems to have elements of both doom and black metal, with plenty of melodic and dramatic turns throughout. This is a very atmospheric sound ripe with a sense of feeling emotionally disconnected from where we came from. This is their fourth release and my first time hearing them so I definitely need to check out their earlier work.
3 Tobacco City / Horses / Scissor Tail
“Ain’t it weird when you’re the young one… reckless, stupid, and free”
Slacker country has been around for more than a few minutes, you can trace it all the way back to the ’60s, actually. In the ’90s I was turned on to music by the Palace Brothers and Geraldine Fibbers, and here in the last few years, there seems to be a really strong push for what I’d call “Twang gaze”. One such album that I latched onto that didn’t seem to have a lot of hype behind it was this one by Tobacco City. Out of Chicago, this group overlays the vocal harmony stylings of CSNY or even Neil with Nicolette/Emmylou/Linda over atmospheric ’60s infused country rock sounds. They find a rather delightful Americana quality in this effort, and that is in reference to the word’s origins, not the music genre.
4 Paradise Lost / Ascension / Nuclear Blast Records
“Hallowed man won’t heed the warning as Hell ascends to greet the earth”
I’m not sure I can think of too many bands in any genre of music that are still going strong after 35 years, with 17 albums under their belt no less, and only getting better while they do it. Out of Halifax in the UK, Paradise Lost are considered to be among the forerunners of the doom and gothic metal movements. This latest set of songs is equally melodic and brutal, with top notch vocals and amazing musicianship. It was a pretty good year for metal if you ask me.
5 Curtis Harding / Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt / Anti-
“How must you deal? By drowning your feelings, you prolong the healing too”
Out of Atlanta, Curtis Harding delivers his fourth album since debuting in 2014. Always seeking to blend soul with other styles of pop and rock music, this collection may be “Captain” Curt’s deepest grooves to date, and also his most daring. The rhythm is tight while the vocal echoes and lavish arrangements are allowed plenty of space to explore and keep the flow moving.
6 Trisha Yearwood / The Mirror / Gwendolyn/MCA Nashville
“Halfway down the aisle I felt it in my bones, drop the flowers, run back home”
If there was any album that can be characterized as “food for the soul,” look no further than this latest work from the ’90s country (and Food TV) star. Trisha collaborated with other songwriters on all 15 tracks to deliver what feels like her most personal work to date. She frequently touches upon issues of growing older and finding one’s self worth while reflecting on both the past and present.
7 Kelsey Waldon / Every Ghost / Oh Boy! Records
“I’ll plant the seeds that you gave to me. Here in my garden they’ll never die”
I first learned of Kelsey maybe 11-12 years ago via a feature in Rolling Stone on a revivified country music scene in Nashville. The list also featured Margo Price, among others, but I gave a listen to The Goldmine by Kelsey. Soon after, she released All By Myself and I was hooked. To me, this was some of the realest and most authentic country music I had heard in ages. While her peers were off chasing big record deals, while abandoning the twang for commercial success, Kelsey stuck to her guns. Here we are now in 2025, with her fifth full length release, and maybe, just maybe, people are now starting to take notice. If the powers that be are reading this, please bring her to the Nelsonville Music Festival, and do it soon! She’s long overdue.
8 Tunde Adebimpe / Thee Black Boltz / Sub Pop
“And my life’s just a dot on the timeline and my soul is fading tonight”
As one of the founding members of TV On the Radio, Tunde Adebimpe has had as big of an influence on modern, experimental rock ‘n’ roll as anyone else in the past 20 years. He began piecing this album together in 2019, drawing on words, images, and sound to create this wonderful tapestry of synth heavy pop and rock. Thee Black Boltz is the first solo album from Tunde and hopefully there will be many more in the years to come.
9 De La Soul / Cabin in the Sky / Mass Appeal
“Understand, there will there will be those you lose when you no longer feel lost”
After spending the last few years reissuing their back catalog to vinyl, De La Soul is back, albeit under somber circumstances with the passing of Trugoy the Dove in 2023. The album in itself serves as sort of a tribute to their fallen brother, whose rhymes and voice are ever present in this project. The result is a wonderful, laid back stretch of 20 tracks that never disappoint, and rank right up there with their best work.
10 The Delines / Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom / Decor/El Cortez
“The only thing I ever saw that meant anything to me was a woman who split herself in two”
Ask me any day of the week and my favorite band is likely to be Richmond Fontaine. Lead singer Willy Vlautin’s songs captured my imagination in the late ’90s and spurred my move to Portland, OR about a dozen years later. Along the way, Willy has written several novels, some of which were turned into major motion pictures. Before Richmond Fontaine hung it up in 2016, Willy started a new side project, the Delines, where he was joined by former Damnations TX singer Amy Boone. If you know Willy, he loves Steinbeck, and the songs are bound to be dark. Whether it’s stories of hobos on trashy Pensacola beaches or ex-cons hiding out in seedy Spokane motels, The Delines have you covered in the “doom and gloom” genre of storytelling.
Hear all of these songs and more on 1340AM on 12/13 and 12/27 in the 3-6pm slot, or from one of the streaming services below.