Brooks Williams

Brooks Williams is the proverbial triple threat. He plays a fiery guitar, has a rich and silky voice, and writes hook-laden songs. He is one of the most commanding performers on the acoustic Roots and Blues scene and is ranked one of the world’s Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists.

The San Antonio Light says that Williams is a “fret monster who has to be seen to be believed!” For 25 years he has been wowing audiences worldwide, every night delivering the deepest and most intense interpretations of everything from early blues to inventive covers to his own recent original compositions. Dirty Linen calls him one of “America’s musical treasures.”

Life On The Road
In the time-honoured road-warrior tradition, Williams has honed his songs and performances, playing everywhere from Dallas to London, Istanbul to Anchorage, Toronto to Dublin, Detroit to Glasgow, Nairobi to Belfast, New York to Sardinia. He has gigged with Taj Mahal, John Hammond, Paul Jones, Billy Bragg, Little Feat, Maria Muldaur, Shawn Colvin, and Leo Kottke, to name but a few. He is also half of State Of The Union, a collaborative duo with singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine, who’s debut recording is turning heads.

Recent festival appearances, both solo and with his trio, include the Bourbon Street Blues Stage at Glastonbury, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Birmingham’s Jazz and Blues Festival, Maverick Festival, Maverick Festival, Ards Guitar Festival, Ely Folk Festival, Kerrville Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Crawley Blues Festival, Marlborough Jazz Festival and Moab Folk Festival. Thousands of gigs over thousands of miles, Brooks Williams now tours from his home in Cambridge England where he lives with his wife and three cats.

Influences
Born in Statesboro Georgia USA – from the land of blues legend Blind Willie McTell – Williams’ southern roots took hold of his music when he moved to Boston Massachusetts USA in his late teens. It was there, in the little clubs and bars of New York and New England, that he developed his sound, playing 5-6 nights a week. The mid-week gigs were in raucous bars (think Blues Brothers and chicken wire and you’re nearly there!) with Williams typically playing for four hours without stopping. The weekend gigs were in quiet coffeehouses (the same ones that year’s earlier featured the likes of a Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Smither, Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman) where audiences hung on every riff and lyric. Williams learned his trade between these two extremes.

From the Studio to the Airwaves
No stranger to the studio, Brooks Williams has, at last count, an amazing 19 CDs to his name, including Baby O! (2010), State Of The Union (2012) – his collaboration with Boo Hewerdine – The Time I Spend With You (2008), Knife Edge (1996), and Little Lion (2000). He has been played on the BBC in the UK, RTE in Ireland, CBC in Canada and NPR in the USA and has charted on the FOLKDJ stations. He can also be heard on Satellite and Internet radio throughout the world.

Over the years Williams has recorded for labels as diverse as Signature Sounds, Green Linnet, Reveal and Solid Air Records, as well as his own Red Guitar Blue Music. He’s learned the studio trade first-hand working with roots music producers like Colin Linden (Blackie And The Rodeo Kings, Bruce Cockburn) in Toronto and Phil Madeira (Buddy and Julie Miller, Emmylou Harris) in Nashville. Lauded by the likes of Guitar Player, Blues In Britain, Acoustic, Rock N Reel, Maverick, fRoots calls Williams’ “Americana at its finest!”

Guitar Workshops And Beyond
A respected teacher and writer, Brooks Williams is a regular contributor to Acoustic magazine, where he writes articles on touring, performing and guitar technique. His guitar workshops are highly regarded and recent workshops and master-classes included the London Acoustic Guitar Show and Guitar Retreats in the UK, La Grande Gennerie in France, and The Swannanoa Gathering in the USA. Noel Harvey writes: “There aren’t too many people who can play guitar like Brooks Williams, and fewer still who can teach like he can.” His two guitar instructional DVDs on Woodhall Music, Blues For Beginners and Guitar Groove, are praised for their accessibility as well as his “easy and engaging presence on screen.”

Collaborations
Over the years Brooks Williams has collaborated with many artists, including Old Time fiddler Rani Arbo, and English folk-rock guitarist P.J. Wright. His most recent collaboration is called State of the Union. State of the Union is Brooks Williams and Boo Hewerdine. The two, practically neighbors in Cambridge, wrote and recorded 11 songs  - just two blokes with two guitars – and the result is released on Reveal Records and is already catching the ears of listeners in the UK, Australia and North America. There are some exciting plans a-foot surrounding the release of State Of The Union including tours and radio appearances.

Voted one of the Top 100 Artists by WUMB-Radio Boston, Brooks Williams is a musician of staggering depth and breath, with an easy-going vocal delivery, groove-laden songs, and monstrous guitar chops, americanaUK says: “It goes without saying that he is an absolute master with a six string but Williams’ talent doesn’t end there. He is personable and funny and easy to relate to when he shares anecdotes in between songs, which are themselves catchy and upbeat. On top of it all he has a beautiful voice that you just melt into. Brooks Williams is impossible not to like."


Blues Matters proffers this about Brooks Williams “…classy, tasteful, bright and hugely enjoyable!”

© Red Guitar Blue Music 2011

PRESS REVIEWS

"What a joy this man is to watch. It goes without saying that he is an absolute master with a six string but Williams’ talent doesn’t end there. He is personable and funny and easy to relate to when he shares anecdotes in between songs, which are themselves catchy and upbeat. On top of it all he has a beautiful voice that you just melt into. Brooks Williams is impossible not to like." (americanaUK)

“A fret monster who has to be seen to be believed!”  (San Antonio Light)

"Williams beckons the most left-footed of us onto the dance floor." (Northern Sky)

“A slice of Americana at its finest!” (fRoots)

“How soulful a solo guitarist can be when he has talent, taste and astonishing technique.” (Blues Revue)

“A consummate artist, Williams ranks among America's musical treasures.” (Dirty Linen) 

"Williams is a precise, articulate, melodically interesting guitarist and an effectively intimate, slightly world-weary sounding singer." (Rock N Reel)

"Williams' natural penchant for story-telling is on full display - as is his uncanny ability to punctuate his cinematic vocal phrases with a guitar lick or rhythm that embellishes every lyric." (Minor 7th)

“Straddling the roots music boundaries of blues, folk and classic Americana, the man himself is a superb acoustic guitar fingerpicker and slide player, with a most appealing voice…Definitely one of the best things I have heard this year” (Blues In The Northwest)

“This ever-compelling exponent of bluesy Americana - and ever-masterly guitarist - delivers a confident and deeply satisfying new set that’s replete with consummate and ever-tasteful musicianship: everything you’d expect from him, and more! Brooks has excelled himself here, I believe; and all told, I’m sure thinking that Baby O! may well come to be regarded as Brooks’ finest collection to date. Go see him live.” (NetRhythms)

“His slide guitar solo instrumental version of ‘Amazing Grace’ just about blew my mind, and it will yours once you have heard it. Wonderful stuff!” (Flying Shoes)

“Brooks Williams is able to take traditional material and put his own stamp on it without making it unrecognizable…we called him back for three encores. It was a superb performance!”  (Blues In Britain)

“He possesses a melodic virtuosity on the guitar that runs like liquid from his fingers...”  (The Irish News)

“Harmonically sophisticated and breathtakingly beautiful…” (Guitar Player)

“Dazzling guitar work!”  (Acoustic Guitar)

“Deft, tasteful guitar chops.” (Rolling Stone)