An eagerly awaited gig at The House tonight. We've seen Mr Williams half a dozen times before and knew exactly what we were going to get. A great collection of songs and tunes, a soft, warm voice, plenty of laughs and some of the greatest guitar playing you could see. The style swings between country, blues, balladry and old time American, the man himself originating from Statesboro, Georgia. Many are self penned, some go back to the thirties, an eclectic mix. All delivered with a dose of charm and amusing anecdotes.
In addition to his usual acoustic guitar there was a steel guitar, a classic old mandolin and a three string cigar box guitar. The latter has an amazing tone and is a joy to watch being played. The songs were a mix of, to us, familiar oldies and some new songs which will be on his next album. I really enjoyed the fresh treatment of Haunted played on mandolin. And, responding to Barbara's suggestion, his very own dynamic instrumental version of Amazing Grace as an enthusiastically received encore.
One of his stories praised Canadians for having a sense of humour that appreciated
irony, at the expense of his more literal minded countrymen. Something the Canucks sat next to me appreciated, but they were already fans of the music by then, along with the rest of the room, judging by the number of CDs being sold. He's a hard man to dislike. Have a listen.
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