Brooks Williams - Monday October 15, 2012



Brooks Williams



www.brookswilliams.com

Brooks Williams plays Mick Murphy's, Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare, Monday October 15, 9pm sharp (No support). Admission: €12 on the door. Doors: 8:30pm.

A musician of staggering depth and breath, with an easy-going vocal delivery, groove-laden songs, and monstrous guitar chops, Blues In The Northwest says: “Definitely one of the best things I have heard this year!” Blues Matters proffers “…classy, tasteful, bright and hugely enjoyable!”

Brooks Williams is one of the premier guitarists, singers and songwriters on the Roots n’ Blues scene. Lauded as one of the Top 100 Acoustic Guitarists of all time, Williams has been wowing audiences worldwide for nearly 24-years with his silky voice, hook-laden songs, and rollicking acoustic and resonator slide guitars, every night delivering the deepest and most intense interpretations of everything from early blues songs to his recent original compositions. The San Antonio Light calls him “a fret monster who has to be seen to be believed!”

Brooks Williams was born in Statesboro, Georgia (USA), the town put on the map by Blind Willie McTell in his song, Statesboro Blues. There’s something in the thick humid air and the deep red clay that informed Williams’ earliest guitar and song explorations. But it wasn’t until he reached the thriving club scene in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) in his late teens, where he played 5-6 nights a week, that Williams’ southern bluesy roots came to the foreground. The mid-week gigs were typically in raucous university clubs or in wild biker bars (and had a distinctively Blues Brothers feel to them!) with Williams playing for four hours without stopping. The weekend gigs were in quiet reverent coffeehouses where audiences hung on every note and lyric. In the land between these two extremes is where Williams developed his voice and learned his trade.
Thousands of miles, 17 CDs, and 24-years later, Brooks Williams, now based in Cambridge (UK), continues to play everywhere from Dallas to London, Istanbul to Boston, Belfast to Toronto, and Detroit to Nairobi. He has gigged with Taj Mahal, John Hammond, Paul Jones, Billy Bragg, Little Feat, Leo Kottke (amongst others), and has performed at the Ards Guitar Festival, Trowbridge Festival, Kerrville Festival, Priddy Festival, Crawley Blues Festival, Guitar Stars Festival, and Marlborough Jazz Festival.
His stunning 2010 recording Baby O!, produced and recorded in the UK by Williams and Andy Bell (Seasick Steve, The Demon Barbers, Kerfuffle), features standard blues alongside original songs. It has been played on BBC Radio Two, CBC (Canada), National Public Radio (US), RTE (IRE), and has been featured in Maverick, Rock N’ Reel, Acoustic, and been lauded by the likes of Scotland On Sunday, The Irish News and Ctrl Alt Country (Belgium), fRoots, and Blues Matters.

Videos: 'Statesboro Blues' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOOjh-ayEHA

'Old Blue' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nypDOby2P3g

plus lots more: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=brooks+williams