On the Front Row with Jack Wiliams

Acclaimed folk-troubadour Jack Williams performed before an enthusiastic audience for AETN’s premier live music production, “AETN Presents: Front Row,” Thursday, April 26, 2007. Williams, a guitarist/singer/songwriter/storyteller from South Carolina, has become near-legendary among folk guitarists in his 45-year career. He has accompanied Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow, Mickey Newbury and Harry Nilsson.

His career has been nothing if not eclectic. Williams played trumpet in a jazz quartet in a beatnik coffeehouse in Seattle in 1959 – reading poetry to the audience during breaks. He learned banjo and mandolin to spice up folk groups in the ’60s in Georgia. He played pedal-steel guitar in a country-rock band, and classical guitar/lute in a Renaissance ensemble. His skill with instrumental composition won him a national arts grant in 1967. This led to his later arrangements for other artists’ recordings.

From 1958 through 1987, Williams was best-known as an electric guitarist in a series of original rock bands and smaller acoustic ensembles. During the ’60s, he worked shows with John Lee Hooker, Big Joe Turner, Jerry Butler, Z.Z. Hill, Hank Ballard and many others. His bands also backed up artists such as the Shirelles, the Del-Vikings, the Coasters, the Drifters and the Platters.

Williams has six CDs of original music on the Wind River (Folk Era) label, plus the DVD “High Cotton,” an eclectic series of on-stage performances. He currently performs “under the radar” for the sheer love of music and performing.

We encourage you to visit Jack's Web site at: www.jackwilliamsmusic.com