Willow Avalon Is a Pistol-Packin’ Outlaw

Willow Avalon was born and raised in a part of rural Georgia that she says “felt like the Wild West.” She got her start performing in the Baptist church choir, where she played piano and got her first guitar. Later, she joined her father, the acclaimed musician Jim White, onstage in dive bars. After dropping out of high school, she moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles to New York. She even lived in her car for a while, but eventually her songwriting skills helped land her a record deal—and a shot at a better life. In 2024, Willow released her debut EP, Stranger, and followed it the next year with her first full-length album, Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell. Now she's back with her sophomore album, Pink Pocket Pistol. Sid talks to Willow about the story behind the mugshot on the cover of her debut album, her song about Dolly Parton, and how a blackberry honey cobbler made from her grandmother's recipe helped make a lasting first impression at Atlantic Records.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Southern Living/ Silken Weinberg

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