Archive for December, 2008
Getting to Know Jack Williams
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | House Concerts | No Comments
Jack Williams
Jack Williams is “one of the most talented and interesting singer songwriters we’ve had the good fortune to meet. It’s an absolute shock when you meet someone this talented who’s not famous; it only happens now and then. But in folk circles, Jack has become legendary and the legend is growing steadily.” –Frank Goodman, PureMusic.com
Fran Snyder is a musician and the driving force behind Concerts in Your Home, an organization dedicated to helping promote house concerts. Earlier this year, Fran had the opportunity to talk to singer/songwriter extraordinnaire Jack Williams about his 50 year career, the ups and downs of being a touring artist, and the house concert “phenomenon.”
“Jack Williams does 15 house concerts per week…
O.K. - Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. However, it’s hard to find another artist who’s worked their way into hearts of so many house concert hosts, and who’s inspired so many to get started. I’m delighted to welcome Jack to the CIYH family, and couldn’r resist the opportunity to have him share his experience with our community. — Fran
1. This might be tough, but when/where was your first house concert? Any chance you’d remember how it came about?
I don’t remember my first house concert, how it came about or how it went. I’ve only been a part of the folk music community for 20 out of my 50 professional touring years, and there have been occasions, long before the current house concert movement, that I played my music in private homes for assembled friends, neighbors, families - and for pay.
I’m constantly amused by the fact that I often hear people speak of house concerts as being a “new thing” or “the latest trend.” In fact, it has been the quintessential “folk” music venue for centuries. My wife Judy found a great magazine photo from 1946, of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, seated side-by-side on stools, performing in a white, middle-class Kansas home, before an attentive gathering of friends, neighbors and families.
In the early 1800’s, musicians like Franz Schubert presented music in his “salon.” Around 1000 AD, the first Troubadours of what is now southern France roamed from city-state to city-state, with a lute and all of their belongings, staying at the pleasure of each court. I guess I’ve been doing “house concerts” for 50 years.
2. I know you do more than 50 house concerts per year. After that, what is your most common type of gig?
No bars at all anymore. Thirty years was enough, although I developed many “chops” on that circuit. Probably my next most common gigs are the “coffeehouse” concert series’, most often in rooms provided by music-friendly churches. By far, the majority of these are the U.U.’s, Unitys, and occasionally other more open-minded sects. I have not yet played a concert in a Southern Baptist church.
I play for a few festivals each year, but prefer smaller audiences. The festivals are basically “showcases” where a folkie may find further employment among the listeners. They’re also great places to cross paths with and spend time with other touring artist-friends.
3. What do you enjoy most about house concerts?
Itimacy. Up close and personal in a non-glitzy, non-show-biz way. What you see is what you get - usually unplugged. I love being able to look into the eyes of the listeners as I perform, and then talk with them at a break or afterwards. For a self-booked artist like myself and some of my collegues, the house concert circuit also provides a decent living for those of us without a “team” (manager, agent, publicist, cosmetician) which can provide more “high-end” gigs for its artists, in the large halls, before many thousands of paying customers - with the artist at a distance from their audience.
My performance approach changes, by necessity, when I’m on the festival stage. I have those skills, to “paint with a broader stroke” for a large, disconnected crowd, but I much prefer the more personal house concert setting.
4. Aside from putting on a great show, what’s been your most effective way of cultivating house concerts?
I wouldn’t call it a “way,” since it’s just part of my nature: I love the people in the folk community, and I’ve enjoyed meeting them in 46 states and 8 countries. My “way” then is the enjoyment of getting to know hosts personally, making the “business” a pleasure. Of course, there’s a strong grapevine on the house concert circuit which has served me - and other artists who favor this most personal of venues - extremely well.
Almost all of our hosts have been folks who are still enthusiastic about life, music, music-makers, and everything that lies above the cheesy realm of commercial media. Over the years, many have become dear friends with whom I share more than just an annual concert. I love this community. My wife, Judy, who has a PhD in immunology and who left the stagnant corporate-science world for life on the road, also loves this community. This has become our neighborhood.
5. The price of gas is influencing everybody’s bottom line, but is it affecting or changing your touring plans?
Yes, in a big and frightening way. I love my job and I’m now facing changes I don’t want to make. We’ll hang in there to see how we do, even though it’s a certainty that we’ll be earning less annually, unless I just play more often on each tour. The problem with this is that I’m approaching 65 and I don’t have what it takes to play 300 dates a year anymore. I don’t fly to gigs and I drive from 50,000 to 70,000 diesel-miles each year.
The options include “localizing,” that is playing only a short drive from home. This would be devastating to me, since part of the love for my job is getting to see every square inch of this country and to meet so many new people.
I also have far fewer venue-contacts in this region (NW Arkansas) which is still new to me - we bought a home here only three years ago. I enjoy teaching and do it frequently at retreats and festivals, and it may become a more important element in my work - teaching more locally, and booking more music workshops along with concerts. The final option is to stop touring. I’m in my prime and I’m having a ball. I’d rather stop breathing.
6. You’ve been a touring act for a long time…how do the past few years measure up for you? Is this the most challenging time you’ve ever seen for touring artists, or just a blip in the road?
I don’t really see it as any more or less challenging than any other time in my career. The past few years have been the best for me in my career - but that seems to have more to do with the fact that I’m just better at what I do now. I can’t speak for other touring artists, as to how challenging it is for them.
I think this is like any other job: “When I works, I works hard. When I plays, I plays hard. When I worries, I sleeps.” Artists who aren’t extraordinarily talented, lack originality in their presentation, lack diligence in booking/publicity-work, aren’t enthusiastic and effecient while hard-travelling or just don’t love their job, are going to face the toughest challenges. At this unfortunate time in U.S. history, though, one of the biggest challenges facing us all is the rising cost of fuel for touring. As for Judy and me, we’ll ride this pony until he falls down.
7. What’s the most common mistake that house concert presenters make?
Hmmmm. There are a few that come to mind, and it’s hard to say which is most common! It may be that some hosts operate under the misconception that their home-performance space must somehow be made to seem a “grander” venue. The building of stage, the assembling of extravagant lighting, the addition of a stadium-sized PA system, and the placing of the audience at a distance from the “stage” and from the artist - these are the things which can derail the most vital aspects of a house concert and diminish the intimacy.
First and foremost, it’s a concert in someone’s living space, not Carnegie Hall or Newport Folk Festival! Speaking for myself, I love that about it. I love it that people may be seated right under my feet, on the floor, on pillows and soft things. I love it that they may be scattered into adjacent rooms, sitting on the staircase, or dangling their feet from a loft. I love it that a simple floor or table lamp may be the only lighting. I love it that the audience isn’t seated in total darkness while multi-colored lights illuminate me and a (sometimes) unnecessary microphone. I love it that I’m standing or sitting not much higher than the audience’s heads, rather than on a stage which causes me to “loom” over the folks. I love it ’cause it ain’t show-biz!”
Jack Williams will be live and in concert at Boro House Concerts on Saturday, January 17. For questions or to RSVP, email us at Lou@BoroHouseConcerts.com
Jack Williams…LIVE!
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 | House Concerts | No Comments
Jack Williams
Jack Williams will playing at the Boro Concert Crib (read: our living room) on Saturday, January 17. The festivities will begin at 7:00 pm with a social hour and the music will start at 8:00 pm.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to be hosting Jack Williams. He is one of the most accomplished singer/songwriters in the business. He is also one of the best guitar players on the planet. His career in music is the stuff they make movies about. He is a terrific talent and I couldn’t be more proud or excited to have him performing for us.
I took the following bio about Jack from his website. But believe me, it only scratches the surface when it comes to Jack’s career and his accomplishments as a performer. I’ll be posting more information in a day or two to give you even more insight into what Jack is all about. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about him, you can visit Jack’s website by clicking here.
As a guitarist, he accompanied Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow, Mickey Newbury and Harry Nilsson. Invited onstage by Arlo Guthrie to sing a song, he then joined the group for the concert encores. He produced all of his own recordings plus CDs by Mickey Newbury, Eric Schwartz, Carla Ulbrich, The Malvinas, and Ronny Cox.
From 1958 through 1987, Jack was best-known as an electric guitarist in a series of original rock bands and smaller acoustic ensembles. In the late 60’s, he gave in to his troubadour nature and began performing solo - singing and playing a gut-string guitar and touring from coast to coast. Before beginning to write in 1970, Jack was inspired by the varied likes of Jesse Winchester, Josh White, Hank Williams, Johnny Mercer, and Ray Charles. When the spirit moves him today, songs from favorite writers spring readily from his lips and fingers.
As a hired-gun guitarist in the Deep South of the Civil Rights-Easy Rider 60’s, Jack worked shows with John Lee Hooker, Big Joe Turner, Jerry Butler, Z.Z. Hill, Hank Ballard and many others. During that era, his bands also backed up artists such as the Shirelles, the Del-Vikings, the Coasters, the Drifters, and the Platters.
Jack Williams’ music sparkles from all these influences – creating truly all-American southern music