Brooks Williams brings Americana blues to town

Brooks Williams brings Americana blues to town

March 18, 2010
By DAN PEARSON Contributor
Veteran singer-songwriter Brooks Williams will make his Lake County Folk Club debut at El Barrio Restaurant and Lounge in Mundelein this Sunday night at 7 p.m.
Recently named one of The Top 100 Acoustic Guitar Players, Williams is a Georgia native who has been based in Boston since his late teens.

Brooks Williams
"To be on that list with people like Doc Watson and David Bromberg and Chet Atkins, that's an honor, those people are my heroes," said Williams, 51.
Williams describes his sound as an Americana blues hybrid.
"I'm working from the tradition of roots music with echoes of country blues. If you could connote Lighting Hopkins with Johnny Cash, you might get a sense of some of the roots I am dealing with."
For his appearance Sunday, Williams will play songs from his new album, "Baby O," his 17th solo recording since 1990. Williams said the title song deals with a long-distance love relationship.
"Being one who travels a lot and has to deal with the reality of being in relationship where you have a great distance between you and your partner is kind of a central theme."
All the songs on "Baby O" have a strong connection to roots music.
"If you listen to 'Last Chance Love,' that's a classic country waltz with a little bit of pedal steel in there as well. That's typically what a dance band would play as the last song of the night to waltz with the person you love.
"'Amazing Grace' brings out the gospel slide guitar and 'Sugar Sweet' is an old Muddy Waters classic. I ended up with Duke Ellington because 'I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)' is just a fantastic song. Anyone who has been in that situation knows that lyric writer totally hit the nail on the head."
The album also features "All Been Said," "a dark night of the soul" breakup song and "Frank Delandry," a tribute to a legendary 19th century New Orleans guitar player.
"He died mysteriously," Williams said. "A lot of those guys lived hard and died young and little is known about them."
Williams also will play tunes from his previous album, "The Time I Spent With You."
"It's a mix of traditional blues and blues-inspired tunes that I've written and I throw in some instrumentals as well. I don't feel the need to play my material all the time. I'm happiest when it's a mix because there are so many great songs out there that I want to bring to an audience."
Growing up in Statesboro, Ga., Williams knew he wanted to play guitar at the age of 5.
"Sitting outside the door of my brothers' room listening to them blasting Eric Clapton, I remember the pulse and the beat through the walls and really liking the feel of it. I remember thinking, 'That's cool, that's what I want to do.'"
A self-taught player, Williams learned to play by gleaning what he could from listening to record albums.
"As I got older, then I would go to gigs. There were loads of little clubs in Boston and I could sit right in the front row and that was like a guitar lesson."
Williams admits there isn't much of a Georgia sound to his voice.
"I didn't hang onto my accent," he said. "What is weird is that when I went up to Boston that was the first time I heard traditional country blues. I actually learned more about my Southern musical heritage being in the North."
After sowing some wild oats in college in Salem, Mass., Williams found employment as a middle school history teacher.
"But I knew I always wanted to play music. I was 24 when I made the plunge and left teaching to get out and gig, so it's been about 23 years that I've been earning my living as a musician.
"I've done a lot of traveling, met a lot of people, learned and played and written a lot of songs. I really feel like the luckiest guy in the world that I have one of the greatest jobs on the planet."
Brooks Williams
7 p.m. March 21 at El Barrio Restaurant and Lounge, 1122 Diamond Lake Road, Mundelein. $12. (847) 271-1584 thelakecountyfolkclub.org or www.brookswilliams.com