Don Williams' Lost Album Was Found in a Storm Cellar After 60 Years. Now, It Is Finally Seeing the Light of Day (Exclusive)
Don Williams' Lost Album Was Found in a Storm Cellar After 60 Years. Now, It Is Finally Seeing the Light of Day (Exclusive)
Chris BarillaFri, May 29, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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Don Williams in 1989
Credit: Michael Putland/Getty
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Don Williams' posthumous album, Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes, features unreleased recordings discovered in a storm cellar decades after being stored
The album showcases Williams' raw, unprocessed vocals from his prime, which impressed both his son Tim and longtime producer Garth Fundis
Extensive restoration brought the analog recordings to modern standards, with listeners praising the project's intimate sound and legacy
Nearly a decade after his death, new Don Williams music is here, and it's continuing a nearly 50-year legacy forged by one of the genre's most profound hitmakers.
The Country Music Hall of Famer's posthumous album, Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes, the first body of previously unheard work to come from his catalogue since 2014's Reflections, which predated his 2017 death, emerged, by chance, from an unlikely hiding place: a storm cellar.
"Daddy had the foresight, I guess, to... Since he owned these, we have a storm cellar, root cellar in the house I basically grew up in, and they've just been down there for 60 years or whatever," Don's son, Tim Williams, tells PEOPLE.
To longtime fans, the prospect of any new material from the late legend is rightful cause to salivate, but as the artist's discerning offspring, Tim wasn't entirely sold at first that there was something worth sharing there.
Don Williams in Indianapolis in April 1990
Credit: Paul Natkin/WireImage
"To be honest, at that point, I was still pretty ho-hum," he says of initial reactions to the discovery. "And it was pretty much when I heard the vocals that I was excited. And so yeah, when I first heard him, it was like, 'Yeah, that's Daddy in his prime.' "
That level of enthusiasm after hearing the contents of the lost tapes was immediately shared by producer Garth Fundis, who worked alongside Don for decades.
"And there was Don's voice, like Tim said, ‘in his prime,' and finally got kind of excited about it," Fundis tells PEOPLE. "One thing that became crystal clear is the vocals were... His singing was just as strong. It was in a very productive part of his career."
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Given the technical constraints of audio recording at the time, the tracks that ultimately were compiled into Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes were originally captured on analog two-inch tape. As such, they required restoration work to be brought to modern standards. Thankfully for Tim and Fundis, much of what Don recorded into the microphone decades earlier was remarkably well-preserved on the tape in the controlled environment of the cellar.
"There wasn't much that was there that we didn't use," Fundis says. "So, whatever came through in the transfer was usable, and it was a great performance."
'Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes' album cover
Credit: credit to Craft Recordings
Tim concurs: "We didn't really have to just start from scratch with anything. We just basically tried to approach it the way Daddy and Garth did albums. What was usable we kept and what wasn't we had to replace somehow."
Delivering a body of work under an artist's name when they're no longer present is a monumental task, exponentially so when it's tied to a trailblazer as beloved as Don. As such, the album title simultaneously nods to its unique origins as well as a longstanding tradition of the late singer.
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Fundis says "The Gentle Giant" was "very famous for coming up with one word album titles," which inspired the search for something fittingly simple and resonant.
"I kept looking and thinking about that one word that might best describe this collection," Fundis says. "And I came upon the idea one day [that] Epilogue would be appropriate." After a suggestion of "adding The Cellar Tapes" to the name, "that's what it became. We liked the idea. We all agreed on it pretty quickly."
In Tim's perspective, the most profound aspect of digging into the recordings was hearing his late father's raw vocals in a way he never had the privilege to before.
"I never sat down with just strictly raw vocal hearing... There's nowhere to hide when you're listening to somebody's raw vocal," he reflects. "Honestly, just his talent, his chops, I've got a better appreciation for."
"Like I say, you get a whole different view of somebody when you're hearing just the raw, unprocessed," Tim continues. "Obviously, this was a way before tuning and stuff like that. There's nowhere to hide. It's just the microphone between your mouth and the tape."
Don Williams in Indio in April 2013
Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty
To Fundis, the cohesion of Don's sonics, driven by raw intimacy at both a lyrical and melodic level, was central to his singularity as an artist.
"His vocals were just easy going," the producer explains. "He sang relatively softly and moved in on the microphone pretty close. And so you end up getting this real intimate picture and feeling from the quality of the vocal."
Though we're nearly a decade removed from Don's death at 78 due to emphysema, the overwhelmingly positive response Tim and Fundis have already received regarding the album has reminded them just how deeply the "Tulsa Time" singer's discography still resonates with legions of listeners worldwide.
"I'm getting a lot of conversations going like, ‘Man, I'm so excited to hear some new music,' " Fundis says of what both friends and fans have expressed to him about the album. "And it feels really good. It feels good. Look forward to it."
As for what Don himself would think of the project finally reaching the world, Tim says, "Well, he'd be happy," a sentiment echoed by Fundis. "I think he'd be tickled," the latter adds.
"He would be proud of it," Tim doubles down. "He'd be proud of what I've done, what Garth's done with it, and I think he'd give his approval and be pleased."
Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes is out on all major streaming platforms now.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
