Hans Williams spent years turning his Bayou St. John backyard into a stage for his neighbors, and now those same songs are reaching listeners nationwide. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter released his debut full-length album, Songs for the Neighbors, on Friday through Giant Music, arriving on vinyl, CD and streaming platforms.
The album follows Williams' earlier EP More Than One Way Home and a string of songs he had posted online, according to NOLA.com. It was captured largely live at Williams' Bayou St. John house with his longtime band and producer Phin Choukas, according to BroadwayWorld. Choukas has also produced music for Noah Kahan, per the same outlet.
Williams uses a former roommate's bedroom as a recording studio, while his band tracks live in the house's living room, per NOLA.com. He shares the home with Choukas, musicians Lyla George and Olivia Barnes, and painter Xavier Burgess — the kind of household arrangement that fed directly into the album's songwriting.
Writing Songs for a Neighbor Named Jeanne
Williams said the record grew out of literal backyard sessions, hoping the music would catch the ear of someone next door. “I wrote this album in the backyard, working through songs hoping my neighbor Jeanne would chime in,” he said, per BroadwayWorld. City Park's night sounds also fed into his songwriting, and the track Harding Road takes its title from the neighborhood's Harding Drive, according to NOLA.com.
Another song, True Feeling, has an even more specific inspiration: a neighbor's pets. The track was written about Maggie the cat and Darcy the dog, BroadwayWorld reports. NOLA.com separately notes that Maggie, the cat, belongs to a neighbor whose presence helped inspire Williams' writing.
Williams has described his approach to emotional songwriting as a way of giving up and reconciling with difficult feelings, according to NOLA.com. He introduced a performance video of his song Skin with a statement about writing it to overcome feelings of being undeserving of love, the outlet reports.
From a Dorm Balcony to a Household Band
Williams, born Johanes Williams, grew up the youngest of three brothers in Vermont, where Tuck's Rock Dojo in New Hampshire encouraged his early interest in recording music, per NOLA.com. He chose to attend Tulane University, majoring in marketing, and tapped into New Orleans' music community during his junior year.
Before he had a backyard to play in, Williams played songs from the fourth-floor corner balcony of his Tulane dorm — loudly enough that Tulane campus security once responded after he sang at midnight, according to NOLA.com. The Tulane campus cleared out in March 2020 for the pandemic, part of the backdrop to his college years.
In March 2023, Williams was set to headline a show billed as his final Tipitina's performance before graduating, scheduled for April 14. It was his third performance at the venue after debuting there in November 2022, according to OffBeat Magazine. At the time, he was working on his debut EP and preparing for his first mini-tour with his band, the outlet noted.
Williams graduated from Tulane three years before NOLA.com's account of his career, then moved back to New Orleans in fall 2023 after four years at the school, he told The Luna Collective. He said he had mostly released singles up to that point, largely because school left him no time to assemble a full project.
A Band Built From New Orleans Players
The album's backing band includes Elliott Miller on bass, Isaac Worley on drums, Richard Rourke on keys, Jonny Campos on pedal steel and Joe Pizzolato on guitar, per BroadwayWorld. Campos, a member of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, used a cello bow on the pedal steel strings during recording, NOLA.com reports. Trombonist Oliver Tuttle added brass to some of the album's cuts.
Williams has said online statistics are not reflective of a real music community, per NOLA.com, even as his songs have been streamed more than 100 million times and he draws more than 1.5 million monthly Spotify listeners.
Williams performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on the Shell Gentilly Stage on April 30, 2026, with Lyla George joining him onstage, according to NOLA.com. He also hosts backyard shows at his Bayou St. John home that bring neighbors together, part of the same community-first ethos running through the new album.
Tour Plans Stretch From Atlanta to a Hometown Finale
Williams is set to embark on a three-month North American tour supporting the album, with the first leg kicking off January 19, 2027, according to BroadwayWorld. The tour includes a stop at Terminal West in Atlanta on January 21, 2027, according to Atlanta Music Guide.
The run is scheduled to conclude with a homecoming show at Tipitina's on April 10, 2027, per NOLA.com — bringing Williams' songs back to the same New Orleans stage where he once headlined as a Tulane student, and not far from the Bayou St. John backyard where many of them were written.
