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Williams received his first guitar aged three however never really learned to play the thing until in his early teens. He soon began to develop a knack for the instrument and was inspired to play listening to new age guitarist Michael Hedges, who influenced Williams’ entire approach to guitar. Following a major in theatre at Virginia Wesleyan College from 1988 to 1991 the musician release his debut album “Freek” in 1994.
Shortly after Williams packed his things and headed to Colorado, U.S. where he met the progressive bluegrass band String Cheese Incident at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and ended up supporting the band on their tours in 1997 and 1998. In 1996 Williams’ sophomore album “Buzz” appeared after which the musician signed to String Cheese Incident’s label SCI Fidelity through which he released he third LP “Spun” in 1998.
Notorious for his single titled albums, Williams has had no shortage of creativity or inspiration releasing albums once or more a year including, “Breathe” in 1999, “Loop” in 2001, “Laugh” in 2002, “Dance” and “Home” in 2003, “Stage” in 2004, the DVD “Sight” in 2005 and “Grass” in 2006.
Noted for his enviable one man show, Williams has become a staple item at many festivals. Popular for his on-stage looping system, homemade 10-string guitar, upbeat, accessible, weirdly-surreal songs along with his unthreatening tenor voice, Williams has become an affectionately eccentric progressive musician.
In 2007 he released his 12th CD understandably titled “12”, “Odd” followed in 2009, followed by “Thief” and “Kids” in 2010. Williams has subsequently released “Bass” in 2011, “Pick” in 2012 and a pair of albums “Keys” a Grateful Dead cover album and “Funk” in 2013.
Keller Williams is an extremely talented and thoughtful performer. In case you aren't familiar with his work, he's a percussive guitar player who uses loop pedals and anything at his disposal to create truly unique and entertaining music.
I saw him on vacation in Colorado and had a great time trying to break down what he was even doing. I'd never seen someone run an acoustic guitar through so many electronics before!
He played with his shoes off and would solo for long periods of time and has a seemingly endless supply of creativity. He's got a terrific singing voice and beatboxes a lot too. To try and put a genre to it, you pretty much have to name a wide variety of music types, cause his influences are obviously all over the place. Jazz, funk, folk, pop, rock, and bluegrass are what comes to mind.
If you like to stick to the same old mainstream type of music, then maybe Keller Williams isn't for you. If you want to see something new and watch a really talented musician and technician, then he definitely is. If you're not sure, listen to some of his stuff online and see for yourself.
He's incredibly talented and is definitely a lot better live, even, than on his recordings.