Keller Williams plays alone for everyone

Keller Williams is a music lover first and a musician second. The truth behind that statement is especially evident when one sees him perform live in concert. This singer and multi-instrumentalist, who made his mark on music by being one of the most creative and entertaining performers on the jam band scene, continuously tries to put himself in the shoes of his listeners as he invents and reinvents everything he does. And most impressively, what he does onstage he does alone.

Growing up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Williams was immersed in music at an early age. He sang in the church choir in first grade and by the time middle school came around he was performing in musical theater. In 1986 when he was sixteen he took his first gig with his guitar in hand. Dressed in a jacket and tie he played for tips on the back patio of a small restaurant in Fredericksburg.

“I played for dinner and tips and was doing all the covers I thought people wanted to hear at that time which was the Eagles and James Taylor and the stuff like that.” Williams said in a recent phone interview. ” I was seeing these solo acts play at little lounges at these ski resorts, and that was my goal, to be that dude in the corner.”

Williams put the tires to the pavement and in time easily surpassed that modest goal. Putting his life into the music, there were many years that Williams played over two hundred shows as he lived out of his van with his wife who ran the merchandise and helped manage the operation. That hard work paid off as today Keller Williams fills theaters, clubs and festival grounds with fervent fans that continuously return for more.

Standing barefoot on stage Williams loops from guitar, to bass, to percussion to vocals and before a song is over he’s a one-man band. And if a horn is needed, Williams can play that too, but he does so rather untraditionally with just his mouth and no tangible instrument. “A flugal is what I call it.” Williams said laughing. “The older I get it seems the less higher notes I can hit with it, so maybe I’m sliding down into more of the trombone area.” The real charm though in Williams’ music, is in his story telling lyrics that oftentimes flow from being beautifully sincere to downright hilarious.

As a uniquely creative artist whose concerts can sometimes feel like a flight of the imagination, Keller’s music jumps back and forth through genres then back again leaving it easy to throw him into the jam band ring. Yet it isn’t that he necessarily “jams” so much, but the music he creates defies boundaries that limit so much of today’s popular music. When asked if he saw any negatives for long being associated with the jam band scene, Williams was swift to reply, “I’ve done this for so long that I’ve seen some ups and some downs of this music business and to be put into any kind of class, I feel very grateful. You can call me whatever you want but I definitely don’t see any negatives about the jam band scene. I have lots of friends and lots of fans in the scene and it’s a super positive thing. Anyone who thinks differently is thinking too hard about it.”

Through these years Williams has been busy releasing albums and if one were to judge an album by its cover, his fourteenth release, “Odd”, may induce assumptions of dragon-slaying fantasy rock. But after a few spins his creative brilliance is clear and quite extraordinary. Even more than his previous works, “Odd” bends through everything from folk, to jazz, to techno, to reggae, to rock and it does so with such ease that there is no reason to question it.

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When asked why he titled the latest record, “Odd”, Williams explained, “I always want to try and sum up the vibe of my whole record with one syllable. Odd was perfect because I guess I gave myself some odd writing assignments like trying to write a bluegrass science fiction song, or taking on the role of Dr. Doolittle and talking to the rodents and animals who seem to meet their death around my house and to try and warn them. And there’s a whole oddness to how the record flows as far as the genres and its mystic feel. I figured it was only appropriate.”

That’s Keller Williams in a nutshell. This modest man has made his name by doing things his way. His approach to music is easy to distinguish as his songs bounce through the world with no remorse as if to simply say, this is music.

Who:  Keller Williams
When:  Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 – 7:30 PM
Where:  Fargo Theatre
Cost:  $24, all ages

Written for High Plains Reader in Fargo, ND for their October 15th, 2009 issue.