Keller Williams prepares for unpredictable show

'Music's mad-scientist' explains his pre-show ritual.

By Kelly Gehringer and Tom Carbone

Published Feb. 19, 2009

Vomiting is not one of Keller Williams' usual pre-show routines while on tour. But somewhere on the road between Tennessee and Illinois, he discovered that he, along with his wife and 4-year-old, had acquired food poisoning. That didn't stop him from humbly taking the time to talk about his upcoming Columbia appearance.

A family man at heart, Williams explains his pre-gig routine on tour, which includes his wife, 4-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son. The day of a show starts at about 9 a.m. when he wakes up to hang out on the bus. With his set list book handy, he relaxes with coffee and breakfast, checks into a hotel and heads to the venue for a sound check. Williams puts an emphasis on relaxing as he prepares for his unpredictable persona on stage.

Williams will be maintaining his "day job" as a solo performer when he comes to The Blue Note on Sunday. The one-man jam band looks forward to coming to Columbia because of its "historic feel," a place where he said "cold spirits go through you."

Nicknamed "music's mad-scientist," Williams is famous for his improvisational abilities on stage, remixing every genre imaginable -- from jazz to reggae and bluegrass to punk rock.

"Call me country music, call me popera," Williams said in response to the epithet.

Expressing gratitude for his fan base, Williams said, "People can call me whatever they want as long as they buy a ticket."

Although Williams has toured in the past with groups including The String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Umphrey's McGee and Ratdog, he is concentrating on his solo career. While these past tours with some of his friends incorporated many different ideas and elements to the mix, his solo show is still rooted in intricate, layered instrumentation.

After touring in 2008 with collaborative artists Keith Moseley on bass (The String Cheese Incident), Gibb Droll on guitar (Marc Broussard) and Jeff Sipe on drums (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Trey Anastasio), Williams released an album entitled Live Last Fall . Since then, he has been unaccompanied on tour and he anticipates a 12-track solo record to appear sometime within the next six months.

A self-taught musician, Williams usually plays with an acoustic guitar connected to a system that records riffs, allowing him to repeat sounds throughout the show. Regarding how he keeps reinventing himself as an artist on stage after 20 years, Williams attributes it to the "quest" of doing something different.

"I guess it's just the relentless pursuit of entertaining myself and trying to go further and deeper into what I'm doing," he said.

As for Williams' song-writing process, it usually starts with a chorus and the lyrics revolve around that as a secondary process. Instrumental epiphanies can occur while "mindlessly doodling" on the couch as the TV is on in the background.

"Nothing hurts a song worse than lyrics," Williams said.

When asked how Williams keeps his innovative, improvisational head on straight, he replies, "I don't. I'm not on any medication, but I probably should be.