The One Man Jam Band guitar playing legend, Keller Williams, will embark on a three night Texas tour where he will be playing with the electronic jam duo, Eoto. We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to speak with Keller about playing with Eoto, his upcoming projects, music festivals and more.
Q: Tell me a little bit about how you decided play these shows with Eoto ?
Keller Williams: Started with the idea of Eoto & friends and I sat in with them for a set. Truthfully I am a huge fan of Eoto and consider them a good career backup choice. If the music stuff didn’t workout for me I would be on the tech crew for Eoto. The the idea of playing a show with them was several months in the making and crossing paths. I’ll be playing first, them second and then we’ll play together. I’m really just doing this as a ploy to see them play live.
Q: What have you planned or practiced for the upcoming shows this weekend?
Keller Williams: Planned out and practiced don’t exist in the words of Eoto and this does nothing but excite me. Everything with those guys is just improv. For my set I will look at set lists from last year. Make sure that that nothing is repeated. Make sure not to play any of the same songs that I played last year. I will play some songs from the new album (Vape).
Q: I have seen you play in Austin a couple of times. How have you liked playing in the Live Music Capital of the World?
Keller Williams: Definitely something I look forward to. Austin is tricky, there are always so many things going on and it is hard to impress an Austin audience . There is so much energy in Austin that fuels the shows. More so than the other music towns. I’m excited to play there and give the best night possible, and give the crowd and venue something great . Austin is a very very special city.
Q: I have seen you cover artists from all different genres spanning from The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, to Green Day & Lorde. How do you decide what songs from other artists you to incorporate into your own repertoire?
Keller Williams: Those songs choose me. They get stuck in my brain. Sometimes I don’t want to play those songs, but they’re stuck in my head. Sometimes there are songs that that I don’t want to play, but I simply have to. I don’t have a choice.
Q: You are stuck in Austin 5 o’clock traffic on the way to your show. What’s the one CD you would want in your car to listen to?
Keller Williams: First thing I think of is Girl Talk “All Day” the record. Starts out with the Ludacris and Ozzie mashup. It’s something that can make me jam out and not get yelled at by horns on the road for falling asleep in traffic.
Q: I’m sure you have attended / performed in 1000+ festivals at this point in your career. What are three elements that every great festival has?
Keller Williams:
1) Side by side stages. I love it when one band is playing and the other band is setting up and one band can go on right after another band finishes.
2) Even the basics gets left out sometimes. Like clean porta potties. It’s essential for festivals to have clean porta potties for the local portable toilet company.
3) Young hungry hairy people.
Q: What elements of music have you seen change the most over the past 20 years?
Keller Williams: I didn’t really like the digital sharing music revolution when it came out. It took some time to get adjusted to it. I’m a music lover first, a musician second and a songwriter third. The fact that everything is free is wild, you just have to know where to find and look for it. I pay a monthly subscription to Rhapsody. If I can’t find something there I go to Youtube. Across the board with most music you can find it. You can also use online radio stations to find new music. Not really a whole lot of elements stopping people from finding music. Not one kind of music that everyone likes. It’s an exciting time to be a music lover.
Q: What’s next for you? More albums? More collaborations? What will you be doing in 2016?
Keller Williams: There is an acoustic project I’m working on with Gib Droll, Rodney Holmes and Danton B0ller. It’s been an exciting endeavor and we hope to have something in January or February. We’re making acoustic dance music. Not full blown electronic style. But Dance music with acoustic instruments , a jazz build up with a trap drop.
Then I’ve got Thanks for Grassgiving, a two night show the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. These shows will include myself, Larry Keel on guitar, The Infamous Stringdusters’ Travis Book on bass and Chris Pandolfi on banjo, The Del McCoury Band’s Jason Carter on fiddle and Love Cannon’s Jay Starling on dobro.
Q: You have been making music and performing for over 20 years. Do you have any desire to take a break?
Keller Williams: The only backup plan I have is to be roadie for Eoto.
I’m gone three days a week and then I get to go back to my wife and two kids at our home in Virginia. I’m very comfortable with this schedule. I have no plan of slowing down. I get to relax on days off and give all my energy when I’m on tour. If something happens with my hands I will start mixing songs and DJing. Just no weddings.
Q: How about Bar or Bat Mitzvahs?
Keller Williams: I’m okay with being bought something, so I would do Bat Mitzvahs.
Q: If you could play with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?
Keller Williams: Hmmm well my band would include Tito Puente (Drums), Jaco Pastorius (Bass), Jerry Garcia (Guitar/Vocals), Neil Peart (Drums), Miles Davis (Trumpet), Branford Marsalis (Sax), Fred Wesley (Trombone)
If Keller Williams ever does start DJing he could create a sound from this dream band, but for now I think he’s quite content sticking with the guitar. If you have yet to see Keller Williams play live, this is something you need to change immediately! He will surely give you a performance you will never forget. Check out his upcoming tour dates and visit his site for more info.
