Brooks Williams

Friday , October 18, 2002
12:00 pm
Location:
in-store performance (free)

"If Williams' guitar picking gets any sharper, we'll have to invent new adjectives," wrote the Boston Globe about Brooks' 12th album, "Skiffle-Bop". Critics and writers have certainly been trying: Brooks is both "an acoustic guitar god," and a "fret monster," they say. His playing is "shamanistic" while he sings like the "Angel of Soul." "Electrifying," "dazzling," and "breathtaking" come up regularly, as do other descriptions that try to capture both water and air. Does he "whomp his way through percussive, string-bending blues," or deliver a silky sound that "runs like liquid from his fingers"? Brooks Williams does all those things.

The man described as "one of the most fluid acoustic/electric guitarists on the planet" is also a singer, songwriter, producer, writer, interpreter, and teacher. His huge and growing catalog of original songs have in common an emotional core and "glorious" delivery in guitar work, voice, and lyrics. "His baritone is warm and easy.......it seems naturally effortless, but it's the result of years of hard work, honing and polishing that finish into a deep luster," writes the Ontario Record. It's the perfect vehicle for songs that weave together the business of the human heart. If it's joy, yearning, hope, repentance, grief, soul work, or delight that you're feeling, you'll find it here.

Twelve albums in 15 years; nationwide radio airplay; critical acclaim, awards and nominations; and steady touring across North America, England, and Ireland have built audiences hungry for Brooks' musical intuition and warm stage presence.

His own intense appetite for music means set lists mixing classic favorites, new compositions, and an intimate knowledge of songs from blues, jazz, gospel, African, Brazilian, and other folk traditions. Works by Joseph Spence, Caetano Veloso, Pat Metheny, Buddy Miller, T-Bone Burnett, Miriam Makeba, Sam Phillips and Paul Buchanan of the Blue Nile, and more, get a second life with Brooks' distinctive, soulful interpretations. His ear for rhythm, swing, slide, and color-made-into- sound keeps each song fresh and breathing.

Check out recordings we carry featuring Brooks Williams