GROWING up in a port town of 3000 on the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island is the last place you'd expect to find a songwriter who breaks all the rules of established musical genres.

Lyttleton's fallen choirboy Marlon Williams isn't one to play by the rules.

The son of a painter and an industrial punk musician, raised with a Maori upbringing and a stable diet of PJ Harvey, Elvis, The Beatles, choral music and Smokey Robinson, was always going to be hard to wedge into a specific genre.

Rather than conform, Williams created a sound which blends country, folk, rock and everything from guitar, banjo, mandolin and swing, bringing genres and generations together in an organic journey.

"I really think following your nose is really the best way to make music. It should be as organic as possible,” Williams told the Tweed Daily News.

"I never thought of genres as being limiting in a way. Country music for instance has its way of having guidelines that can be very strict, but there's ways to float between different areas.”

While Williams' music can't be labelled, it does channel his inner crooner, while taking on any form the 25-year-old is feeling.

"I like to call it modern crooner music, it's all focused around the voice, it can take itself in any sort of direction,” Williams said.

"It's throwing the emphasis back on the fan with a modern view of the world.”

That sound led Williams to a Best Male and Breakthrough Artist award at the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards after the release of his self-titled solo debut, a nomination for Best Blues and Roots Album at the Aria Awards and numerous other nominations.

On the back of the release of Dead Oceans in February, Williams has spent the year touring North America and the UK and Europe, appearing on radio and on TV shows such as Later With Jools Holland and Conan.

Currently laying low in his hometown and working on new material, Williams said a new release was slated for the new year.

Before that, another US tour awaits, before returning to North Byron Parklands to play Falls Festival 2016/17 after playing Splendour in the Grass in July.

Having played shows on tours in and around the Northern Rivers, Williams is no stranger to the region which reminds him of New Zealand.

"I've done a fair amount of touring through there and have done numerous tours around those parts,” he said.

"The Northern Rivers is a beautiful part of the world.”

Williams is looking forward to playing Falls, which will be his first foray into the multiple date format, flying between the various Falls festivals around the country.

"Going to different sites at the same festival you start hitting your stride on the same run, which is a rare thing at a festival,” Williams said.

"You get so used to coming into a place to play a show and just leaving again, I like the way Falls is formatted. It's my first experience with that format. I'm really excited to see how it feels at the end of it.”

Marlon Williams

• What: Falls Festival 2016/17
• When: December 29 - January 3
• Where: North Byron Parklands, Yelgun