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As in many separations, explanations didn't come easy. There was no band-ending argument. They didn't start fighting in Europe and then quit the road. Tensions built up over time and reached an impasse. Williams believes in retrospect canceling the tour was the right thing to do, though it made her sad. "It was getting close to impossible for us to perform together on stage, and nobody wants to see a show like that," she said. "I don't want to be on stage like that." Nate Yetton, Williams' husband and the group's manager, said everyone was so focused on the future, they didn't notice when things went out of balance. "I think our marriages suffered," Yetton said. "I can't speak for John Paul, but I know Joy and my marriage suffered. We've always been very close, but we had to really reconnect." Yetton wonders if they'd slowed things down, taken more time between shows and tours or pushed back the album, if the relationship wouldn't have been better. He was able to travel with Williams and Miles, while White was forced to leave his wife and young children at home in north Alabama. "I think for me, not to get too philosophical, it's not really about being together" as a group, Yetton said. "It's about being together and being able to be present where you are and enjoy what you have. And I think that's something I really want to speak about that I've become really passionate about as a young 30-something, is that ambition can be incredibly suffocating sometimes."
The duo's hiatus shouldn't really come as a surprise. One of the great rock
'n' roll truisms is that most groups break up. For duos, it's even harder to keep things together. "A band is the most volatile thing that you can get involved with," Peacock said. "I swore 20 years ago that I'd never produce another band, and this is kind of par for the course." As with their music, White's voice is a critical part of the duo's real-life story. Without it, something important is missing. After the hiatus began, Peacock became something of a musical go-between and White has not spoken publicly about the album. "John Paul does not want to talk, but he is very proud of the record," Peacock said. "John Paul is a serious artist. I can guarantee you that this record would not be coming out if he were not proud of it." Peacock calls speculation that White was not involved in completion of the album "absurd," as is much of the speculation over how the tour ended. Williams says out-of-line musing on the Internet has been among the most difficult things to deal with in an already tough situation. "I have been more hurt by some of the things that people have said than I ever knew was possible..." Williams said as she wiped away tears. "All I can do is just be myself and be vulnerable and sit here and talk to you. And so on some level let people think what they think. All I can do is move forward, and that's what I'm doing. This is part of life. Sometimes that's what I think people miss. This isn't some marketing ploy to make things more interesting for a second album. This is my life, and my life is on this album. And if you want to know what happened to the band, listen to the album." ___ Online:
[Associated
Press;
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It is one of the happiest times for Williams, but as is often the case with life, it's also one of the most difficult. Over the next hour, Williams will laugh and cry and express a range of emotions from pride to fear and hope as she talks about the status of her Grammy Award-winning duo with John Paul White and their new self-titled second album. The group is officially on hiatus even as a single hits the airwaves and the album nears its Aug. 6 release date.
