KELLER WILLIAMS: LIVING THE DREAM

By Forrest Reda

Keller Williams by C. Taylor Crothers

The one-man-jam-band, K-Dub, a dancing man, the Freek, a one-man band for the digital age, Jam-Man, a guitar virtuoso, an irreverent musi-comedian. Keller Williams has been called many things over his career, but lazy is not one of them. Playing multiple instruments on stage at every show, Keller is continually on a mission to create a new tapestry of sound, looping himself into a sonic frenzy and writing his set list on the fly. It’s a lot of work to pull off every night, but somehow Keller manages, and the music world is a better place because of it.

In the beginning it was just a man and his guitar. Keller honed his chops in his native Virginia playing restaurant gigs that no one else wanted. A popular aspect of Keller’s live show, the relentless segues from song to song, originated in these early days, simply from wanting to avoid the uncomfortable silence between songs when it was just Keller and a few bartenders.

Keller Williams

Keller played in bands during his college years but wanted to use the money he made to tour not to record albums, which is what the bands invariably wanted to do. So, he set out on his own as a solo artist. After a few years on the coffeehouse circuit in Virginia, Keller relocated to Colorado. He wanted to get to the West Coast, but on the way he stopped to check out the Telluride Bluegrass festival, and playing in Colorado’s ski towns meant he could get lift tickets in exchange for playing music.

“As a teenager starting to play gigs, the West Coast was my goal. I just wanted to be able to play the West Coast somehow. When I started the only way to do that would be to get a record deal and be backed by some label to be able to go on tour. Then, the Internet came along, and then the tape trading thing helped me get my music over there without any kind of record deal.”

In Colorado, Keller was introduced to a ski town circuit jam band with a funny name, The String Cheese Incident. Impressed with their ability to jump from genre to genre, he went to as many shows as he could, eventually befriending the band due to their shared musical sensibilities. Keller’s ability to entertain an audience was duly noted, and when SCI expanded its touring radius outside of Colorado, Keller was invited along for the ride.

Keller Williams :: Bonnaroo ’03 by Dave Vann

The energy that Keller radiates into the audience at his shows is infectious, but his everyman persona attracts fans as much as his musical choices. When he first emerged onto the national stage in 1997 he seemed like just another dude from the lawn at a Dead show, able to lead a campfire in song with his trusty acoustic guitar and encyclopedic knowledge of lyrics.

Little did we realize that Keller had found the Pick of Destiny towards the end of the Grateful Dead’s run, probably at Deer Creek, which allowed him to become a guitar virtuoso with a unique sound that could fill theaters from coast to coast. An avid self-learner, Keller taught himself how to play guitar and loop his music in the live setting, in real-time. The problem was Keller was doing it in the most problematic way possible, utilizing hand cues to communicate with his soundman to control the desired loops. In 1998, Victor Wooten showed Keller how to use the Lexicon Jam Man to create and control loops, and Keller found the missing link – live phrase sampling. He has amazed audiences ever since with his apparent ability to control an ever expanding array of instruments onstage.

I am definitely looking at band possibilities right now. I kind of exhausted all my ideas on this record, as far as collaborations go, but there are always things that I’d like to do, like jump into an established band. -Keller Williams on The Future

Photo by C. Taylor Crothers

But what if Keller had access to any musician he wanted? What if Keller made an album of songs written with other musicians in mind? Sounds like a dream, right?

Keller’s brand new record, Dream (available February 6 on SCI Fidelity) is an ambitious project of epic proportions. The list of musicians appearing on the project reads like a musical honor roll: Bela Fleck, Bobby Read, Bob Weir, Charlie Hunter, Derrek Phillips, Fareed Haque, Fleming McWilliams, Jeff Sipe, John Molo, John Scofield, Martin Sexton, Michael Franti, Modereko, Samir Chatterjee, Sanjay Mishra, Steve Kimock, The String Cheese Incident and Victor Wooten.

The scope of this project was such that it took three years from conception to reality, during which time Keller cranked out a concert DVD (Sight) a live album (Stage), and a bluegrass album with The Keels called Grass.

The busy touring lives of all the musicians involved, including Keller, at times made for some interesting recording sessions. Michael Franti recorded his rap section for the reggae-tinged “Ninja of Love” in the back of a tour bus. Keller says that the song was made up with Franti in mind. “What I wanted to do was try to write a song based on the hip-hop mentality. He’s definitely not solely a hip-hop artist. He’s all about the reggae and the funk and staying positive. I was trying to dive into a combination of reggae and the confidence of hip-hop [culture]. Rappers are always talking about themselves and Michael doesn’t really go there and say how cool he is. That’s kind of where I was going with ‘Ninja,’ trying to really magnify confidence. I don’t really have that kind of confidence. It was kind of like digging out words to get that sort of mentality, without coming across as conceited or pompous.”

Keller Williams

Humor is always present in Keller’s music and allows him to get away with the schoolboy sexual humor that crops up in his work like the suggestive “Restraint” that recalls ALO‘s “Girl I Wanna Lay You Down” in its playfully flirtatious lyrics. It’s the purest kind of a love song, written for his wife, and it shows the range of Keller’s music. One minute Keller is a funny guy with a guitar, the next he’s some kind of mad scientist genius type who can control sounds with his hands, at least while using his prized Theremin.

Like his music, Keller’s career path is utterly unique. While most bands splinter into assorted solo projects, the one-man-jam-band may soon form a band.

“I am definitely looking at band possibilities right now,” Keller says. “I kind of exhausted all my ideas on this record, as far as collaborations go, but there are always things that I’d like to do, like jump into an established band. We have one festival booked in Illinois in the summer called Summer Camp. A couple other festivals are still kinda teetering on possibilities. I’ve got a lineup kinda picked out. I’ve got some rehearsal dates, but I want to wait until it’s a real definite before I start name-dropping.”

It’s strictly self-indulgence, wanting these people to play with me and my music, and not really thinking about anything else other then that… I’m actually touring now so that I can have a golf cart when I’m 80. I made the record so I can actually listen to it, at loud volumes, when I’m 80 and be proud. -Keller Williams on Dream

Photo by C. Taylor Crothers

While Keller has played with The String Cheese Incident on many occasions, Bill Nershi‘s departure does NOT mean that Keller will be joining SCI.

Keller Williams Incident by John Smrtic

“I always thought Garaj Mahal would be a really cool thing to jump into, they’re predominately instrumental, and all of them are incredible players and I think it would be fun to play with them,” says Keller, who’s also a longtime fan of bassist Kai Eckhardt. “I was first exposed to Kai through an old live John McLaughlin record, and going to see him perform with Garaj Mahal is just a real treat.”

Until Keller reveals his next musical incarnation, fans will continue to watch him put in another “Day at the Office,” the title of an excellent new song he’s been road testing. It’s a good description of his current touring philosophy, which is a departure from the road warrior years of 1997 – 2000, when Keller and his wife would basically drive circles around the country building up markets. “I’m lucky to be able to dictate how my tour goes down” says Keller. “Now, the majority of it is just hanging out at home during the week and then going out and working on the weekends, sort of like a reverse office job.”

Keller Williams by C. Taylor Crothers

Keller’s success means improvements to the “office” like the fancy camera setup he now uses. During his show, multiple angles of Keller are displayed on a screen behind him. Visitors may wonder where all the cameramen are. He explains, “They’re really cool, state of the art, R2-D2 looking things about the size of a shoebox. My video guy, Scott Sun, has a joystick to go around and pan in and out. Nothing is rehearsed. During the show he’s frantically following me around.”

Keller is quick to praise his co-workers, giving ample credit where it’s due. “My stage guy is Andrew Queen, who sets it all up and changes strings and kindly escorts tripping people off stage. Then, there’s Lou Gosain, my front-of-house guy, who backs as the tour manager and harmony vocalist.”

Keller approaches the songs on Dream just like any of this other material. “All the songs are basically written with just the solo guitar in mind. Every thing else that gets added to it is just a bonus. Pretty much all the songs have been played onstage for three years or more, so it kind of originates from the singer-songwriter standpoint and then shifts.”

In the end, Dream is the culmination of Keller’s journey, at least his journey so far.

“It’s strictly self-indulgence, wanting these people to play with me and my music, and not really thinking about anything else other then that. It’s all for me, wanting to hear these things, and this type of music, and these particular players, and hoping that people like it, but not really caring if they do because I’m not doing it for them. I’m actually touring now so that I can have a golf cart when I’m 80. I made the record so I can actually listen to it, at loud volumes, when I’m 80 and be proud.”

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Go See Live Music!

Check out Backstage with JamBase’s interview with The Keller Williams Incident

Listen to Keller talk about each song on Dream, including his collaboration with Bob Weir (and Weir’s dog) here.