Will Orchard: Building Songs, Records and Musical Partnerships

The many jobs inside a song

A songwriter appearing with a guitar may seem to be doing something simple: singing words over an accompaniment. Will Orchard’s recorded work makes that picture more interesting. He writes songs, plays multiple instruments and takes on recording and production responsibilities, while also collaborating with other musicians. His official biography identifies him as an indie-folk artist based in Nashville after a background in New England, with extensive touring in the United States and Europe, often alongside Jess Kerber. Official biography

For a guitar audience, those overlapping roles offer several ways into his music. We can hear the instrument as an accompaniment, as a source of ideas and as one part of a larger recorded arrangement. We can also ask what changes when a studio recording becomes a live performance in a small room.

Learning by making music

In a 2021 interview, Orchard recalled starting guitar lessons at nine after his mother signed him up. He did not immediately enjoy the experience, but later appreciated both her persistence and the work of his teacher, David Lauria. By his teens, he was playing in bands and spending time in Providence’s local venues. Orchard’s We Are: The Guard interview

His next step was a solo project with the memorable name LittleBoyBigHeadOnBike. Inspired by prolific, home-recorded music, he set himself the goal of putting an EP on Bandcamp every week. In his account, that experiment gradually became more serious and developed into the work released under his own name. 2021 interview

There is a useful lesson here for anyone learning to write. Making a complete small piece can teach something different from practicing a difficult passage. A finished sketch creates an opportunity to hear a beginning, a middle and an ending, then decide what to try next. The broader possibility is that creating music can itself become a form of study.

An early album and its collaborators

Old Friends on the Mountain, released January 3, 2020, documents Orchard working as songwriter, recording artist and producer. Its credits also identify Jeff Prystowsky as mixer and Kurt Stewart as mastering engineer, with contributions from drummer James Goodwin, singer Jobi Riccio and trumpeter Ian Compton. The eight-song collection includes “Turning Back Again,” “Out the Window” and “I Miss You, Like Sunday.” Official album page

Those credits give us a concrete way to think about independent music-making. A project can begin with a highly individual voice while still depending on other people’s playing and judgment. Independence does not have to mean isolation. The useful distinction is between the person who initiates a piece and the network of people who help it reach its final recorded form.

The partnership with Jess Kerber

On I Reached My Hand Out, released May 7, 2021, Orchard again receives the writing and arrangement credits, while Allen Tate is credited with production, engineering and mixing. Kerber plays guitar on six tracks and contributes harmonies and other vocals. Other collaborators include Goodwin, bassist Miles Burger and Compton. Orchard’s own credits include guitar, bass, keyboards, banjo and percussion. Official recording credits

That detail is worth noticing before hearing Orchard and Kerber together. Their collaboration includes instrumental work as well as singing. The credits show an established history of contributing to one another’s work.

The exchange also runs in the other direction. Kerber’s From Way Down Here credits Orchard as recording engineer and one of its producers, alongside Kerber and Charles Dahlke. Kerber album credits The two artists retain their individual songwriting identities within that partnership.

This makes a shared bill especially interesting. We can listen for a change in musical perspective when the lead singer changes, then notice what remains familiar in the interaction. How does an accompaniment make room for another person’s voice? When do harmonies feel like an extension of the melody, and when do they introduce another point of view?

A wider instrumental palette

Orchard’s 2025 album Behind the Shadow Glass places substantial recording responsibility in his hands: he is credited with writing, production, engineering and mixing. The instrumental credits list acoustic, electric, baritone, twelve-string and bass guitars, along with piano, synthesizer and banjo. Goodwin plays drums, Kerber supplies backing vocals, and Andrew Goldring contributes drum engineering and mastering. Official album page

The acoustic guitar forms part of a broader musical practice. A songwriter can work with a small number of elements in one setting and a much wider palette in another.

A place in Knoxville’s listening community

Orchard’s connection with East Tennessee in this profile is a concrete one: performances that bring his songwriting and collaboration with Kerber to local listeners. A guitar community grows by making room for artists with distinct backgrounds and by listening carefully to what each brings.

Knoxville appearances: November 2026

LeGrand Music Studios presents Orchard and Kerber at Fountain City Art Center on Friday, November 6, 2026. Their KCG Artist Circle members’ concert follows November 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. Consult the KCG listing for that evening’s arrangements and venue confirmation.

Proposed internal links, to activate after publication: – Jess Kerber: The Guitar Inside the Song — /blog/jess-kerber-guitar-song – Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar in East Tennessee — /blog/classical-and-fingerstyle-east-tennessee – Muriel Anderson: Listening Across Guitar Traditions — /blog/muriel-anderson-guitar-traditions