"Beautiful, classy playing and great songs."

Acoustic Guitar

STATE OF THE UNION

Boo Hewerdine & Brooks Williams

Boo Hewerdine and Brooks Williams aka State of the Union, create a magical, stripped back and enthralling musical atmosphere with two guitars and two voices. Their performances are consistently brilliant, equal parts emotive and entertaining. 

The two formed their collaboration in 2011 and created two albums in rapid succession, State of the Union and Snake Oil. Subsequent tours took them around the UK, to Ireland and Portugal, including a 14-date stint playing theatres with Eddi Reader and an appearance on The Andrew Marr Show (BBC 1), plus 4-star reviews in Q and R2. In 2017 they released Saltwell Sessions and toured extensively.

The songs State of the Union create are equal parts wit, whimsy and pathos. Both have an impeccable sense of rhythm and melodic beauty. Their sound is huge, two guitars and two voices exceeding the sum of the parts. They interweave melodies and harmonies, nimble picking and full-tilt chording. It’s rich and expertly executed. And both love the craft of writing.

Boo Hewerdine is perhaps best known from his years fronting much loved English rock band The Bible but he has since enjoyed a solo career spanning over two decades and written thousands of published songs including those for Eddi Reader, Sia, Chris Difford, Kris Drever and KD Lang. His most recent album Understudy came out in Summer 2022. 

Brooks Williams is an Americana singer-songwriter-guitarist based in the UK, with over 30 years touring and recording, both solo and with artists like Aaron Catlow, the late Rab Noakes, Dan Walsh and Vera van Heeringen. His newest solo album is called Diamond Days. 

State of the Union will release their fourth album Paper Tigers in 2024

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STATE OF THE UNION * A Short History