Kathryn Williams

Born in Liverpool on 15 February 1974, Kathryn Williams is one of Britain’s most quietly remarkable singer-songwriters — a musician whose career has unfolded entirely on her own terms over more than twenty-five years, producing a body of work that grows more assured with every record. She released her debut album on her own Caw Records label in 1999 with a budget of £80. The follow-up, Little Black Numbers, earned her a Mercury Prize nomination in 2000 and became a touchstone for a new generation of British folk.

She has since released over fifteen studio albums, each one finding new ways to articulate the private inner life she has always documented with such precision and grace. She has collaborated with John Martyn, Paul Weller, Ed Harcourt, Matt Deighton and Withered Hand among many others. She has written a novel — The Ormering Tide, published to critical acclaim — hosted her own podcast, Before the Light Goes Out, which appeared in the Guardian’s top ten music podcasts, and worked as a visual artist. Her label One Little Independent celebrated her career with a twenty-disc anthology box set. Her 2025 album Mystery Park, featuring Paul Weller among others, marks twenty-seven years of making music.

She features on the Monks Road Social album Humanism, a natural meeting point between her world and ours — an artist who has spent her career proving that songs made with care and honesty will always outlast whatever the industry decides is fashionable.