Everett Thomas w/ Hayward Williams

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
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Friday, July 8, 2011

\"Hayward Williams\' earnestly jaunty folk-rock might seem anachronistic in the prevailing musical atmosphere of self-conscious irony, but his combination of melody, restraint, and unabashed enthusiasm saves the day. Williams also boasts a voice that sounds several decades older than he actually is, lending his songs of love and loss a gravity they might not otherwise possess.\" - The Onion

\"Ahhh, where to start? The exquisite gruffness of a manly voice that belies the strip of a lad who appears on the photographs? The moving, intelligent storytelling, from which \"Doctors\" and \"Problems with Hemingway\" stand out --- but only just - from the crowd? Or the new-alt-country-blues (and will you forgive me that phrase) of the sound, put to beautiful use on \'Devil\'s Lament\'? In truth, its hard to put it into words; this is a fantastic record, one that\'s a treat from start to finish. On first listen, the cover of Thunder Road strikes a jarring note; when your songs are as good as Hayward\'s there seems no need to walk in another\'s shoes, but several goes later and it melds in seamlessly. You\'ll like this.\" - Americana UK