| Keller Williams | |
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Williams at Langerado Music Festival March 9, 2008 Photo: Steve Moyles |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | K-Dub, Keller |
| Born | February 4, 1970 Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | One-man band, rock, jam, progressive bluegrass, dance, funk, folk, alternative rock, jazz, reggae |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocalist, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, theremin, synthesizer, piano |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | SCI Fidelity, Basil Leaf Music |
| Associated acts | The String Cheese Incident with Keller Williams Umphrey's McGee Yonder Mountain String Band Keller and The Keels The WMDs The Rhythm Devils |
| Website | http://kellerwilliams.net |
Keller Williams (born February 4, 1970) is an American musician from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who began performing in the early 1990s. He is also known by the names K-Dub or just Keller, when performing. Williams' music combines elements of bluegrass, folk, alternative rock, reggae, electronica/dance, jazz, funk, and other assorted genres. He is often described as a 'one-man jam-band' due to his frequent use of live phrase looping with multiple instruments.[1]
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Though primarily a solo artist, Williams has toured with several bands that include Yonder Mountain String Band, The String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee and Ratdog, and has frequently performed at The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and The Rothbury Festival.[1] Williams has an audio taping policy of his performances, and for non-commercial trading of the recordings but use of video or flash photography, or any recordings for profit are prohibited.[2]
Keller Williams Incident is a collaborative performance between Williams and The String Cheese Incident. They have performed together, and Williams' 1999 album Breathe was released collaboratively as the Keller Williams Incident. Williams and SCI began collaborating after Williams saw the band perform in Colorado; offering to play with the band in exchange for free ski passes.
Williams also frequently performs with a backing band as "Keller Williams with Moseley Droll and Sipe". Formed in 2007 as the WMDs, they first played at the Bonnaroo music festival. The group consists of Williams on rhythm guitar, Jeff Sipe on drums, Keith Moseley on bass, and Gibb Droll on lead guitar. They changed their name from the WMDs in 2008.[3]
"Keller & The Keels" is a bluegrass project consisting of Williams and the husband and wife combo of Larry and Jenny Keel. The trio released Grass in 2006, a collection of both original and cover songs. They released Thief, an album of cover songs, in May 2010.
Keller played a side project with Umphreys Mcgee at Summercamp 2009 called "The Sexy Bitches," not Keller McGee, as the group is sometimes named on the internet.
A self-taught musician, he usually performs with an acoustic guitar connected to Gibson Echoplex Delay system, which allows him to play a riff once on his instrument, record, and repeat it. This lets him play unaccompanied and include a variety of instruments in his shows.
His main guitars used are a Martin HD-28 and D-35, an Alvarez/Joe Veillette MTB baritone, a Rick Turner baritone 12-string, a Tacoma Thunderhawk, an early 50's tempo and a Gordon Anderson custom 8-string.[4]
Williams currently hosts the radio show Keller's Cellar which has a live online stream and is pre-recorded at Wally Cleaver's in Fredericksburg, VA.[5]
Williams recently started the "Once a Week Freak", on his website where every week he had released a new song from his new 2009 album "Odd". Upon release of every single song on the album, he released the entire album in a single download. And due to the large success of this idea, Williams has now chosen to keep the "Once a Week Freek" project going and releases a new song/video or two each and every week, usually on Wednesday. These tracks consist of live performances of previously recorded songs, unreleased covers of other bands' songs, or just different renditions of his own recorded music.
Williams played as a member of the Rhythm Devils with Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart at the Gathering of the Vibes festival in 2010. Williams then appeared with the Rhythm Devils in 9 July shows on their summer tour.
Kdubalicious is a project involving Keller Williams on bass/guitar, Jay Starling on dobro/keyboards, and Mark D on drums. Kdubalicious is Reggae/ Dub/ Funk. Keller's project Kdubalicious formed in late 2010, and the group continues to play occasional shows. There was a unique winter concert held on a turf field in Fredericksburg, VA featuring Kdubalicous w/ Larry Keel, Jenny Keel, and John Starling in December 2010.
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