It’s late evening in Nashville, Tennessee. An ambulance has pulled up to the front of a club. The owner rushes out. The EMTs speak to her. She laughs and leads them over to Brooks Williams, who has just left the stage. While cruising around in the ambulance, they heard Brooks’ previous set live on the radio and they had to come to meet the man who, one says, is the best damn guitar player I’ve ever heard. This isn’t promotional hype, just the facts. Brooks’ music stops you in your tracks. You have to hear more.
Critics and writers hail Brooks “an acoustic guitar god‚” and a “fret monster,” saying his music is “electrifying,” “dazzling,” and “breathtaking,” and that he sings like the “Angel of Soul.” Since Brooks has been a presence at Image‘s Glen Workshop, and a valued contributor to our pages, we are in no position to disagree with these sentiments….
Some of Williams’ work is featured in Image issue 29.
Biography
Born in Statesboro, Georgia, Brooks took up the guitar at age 10 (he had been playing violin since the age of three) and had a hunger for music that was never satisfied. He crept into his older brother’s rooms, when they were away, and secretly listened to their albums: Hendrix, Tuna,Yes, Clapton and Morrison, to name a few. Brooks listened with all the naivete of youth and taught himself to play the overdubbed parts on a single guitar. You’re not supposed to be able to do that, but Brooks did. Still does. Audiences hear it: Brooks with one guitar comping chords, walking bass lines and chiming in lead riffs. One instrument. One player.
Visit Williams’ website here.
Current Projects
May 2003
There are many sides to Brooks’ work as a musician. He tours, as time allows, in a critically acclaimed duo with Rani Arbo. His slide and acoustic guitars shimmer and pulse between news segments on NPR, PBS-TV, or the BBC. He has produced CDs by Salamander Crossing, Rollyn Zoubek, and Spinoza, to name a few. He’s done a few gigs for us here at Image, and will probably do a few more before too long. A respected teacher, you can find him conducting sold-out workshops on fingerstyle guitar at the Club Passim School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or songwriting workshops at the University of Virginia or the New England Young Writer’s Conference. Recently his local PBS-TV affiliate,WGBY, filmed Brooks with his trio for the live concert program, Caught in the Act.