It was a Saturday night and everybody really was “dancing down at the local armory” (actually the Rams Head Live in Baltimore). The pied piper of one man rock and shoeless dancing, Keller Williams, was in the midst of a reggae tinged version of the Grateful Dead classic “One More Saturday Night,” complete with the appropriate shout out to the Commander-in- Chief, “put on them rockin’ shoes George,” and in the process of trying to cram every single style of music and what seemed to be every song he had every heard into two sets.
The Who’s “Baba O’Reily,” to lead things off, an Andy Griffith theme song tease that grew out of “Freeker by the Speaker,” Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle,” Porno for Pyros “Pets,” even the disco sound of “Night Fever” found its way to the stage, and that is just to name a few of the adventures we had this evening. Going to a Keller show is like watching TV with a hyperactive kid who constantly channel-surfs. An explosion of activity throughout the night, he began his first song of the night, a lengthy unnamed jam, as he danced on to stage. He linked the rest of his set together by bouncing and be-bopping from instrument to instrument, looping his way through the stations of his mind.
But Keller is not just simply a novelty act, someone to gawk at because he plays everything himself. He is a fantastic musician who has developed a unique and innovative approach to the whole singer/songwriter genre. Not merely content to just strap on an acoustic guitar and belt out a couple of tunes, Keller straps on a whole bunch of guitars, a couple of basses, a piano, a theremin, and whatever else strikes his fancy, becoming a band unto himself, a new demented version of the singer/songwriter for the 21st century. This would not work though if he were just some hack who played with loops and samplers. He has mastered the art of constructing and deconstructing songs piece by piece while on stage. Take out that guitar riff, change the bass line, add some mouth harp and handclaps and “Skitso” becomes “Moving Sidewalk” right in front of your eyes.
Keller’s voice has a friendly, down home atmospheric quality that makes his shows seem like a conversation between friends. He owns every song with his distinct voice and subtle playing. His occasional band mates and good friends in The String Cheese Incident have discovered this and benefit from his strong vocal skills every time he joins them on stage. To bear witness to this, one only had to hear his gorgeous rendition of the Grateful Dead’s “Terrapin Station.” No crazy loops, funny dances, or silly noises. Just the man, his voice, the song, and some understated work on the set of keys set off to the side of the stage. We are not talking about a tease or a short snippet of the song either; this was full-on journey through the entire suite. Think all of side two of the
Terrapin Station album. “Strategy was his strength, not disaster”
In the end though Keller’s shows are about the mood he creates. The ad-libbed story telling that goes on as he moves from song to song, “Thank you for this place, for this show,” which serves to personalize each show for all those grooving in the crowd or putting down his guitar and dancing his butt off to his own music. As he sang near the end of the second set during “Best Feeling,” “I didn’t care about tomorrow, I worry when tomorrow comes.” I didn’t worry about tomorrow either. This evening it was the sound of a lazy summer day, laying around, drinking a beer, and sharing a smoke with a friend. It was whatever Keller Williams found on the stations of his mind and that was just fine with me.
Photos by C Taylor Crothers
