The Flying Monkey Performance Center Presents Keller Williams

Friday at 7:30 PM

Press Release

Keller Williams has taken part in a lot of different projects over the years. His most common guise is as a one-man band, using onstage looping technology to create a song track by track. First, he’ll get a beat going, then sample and repeat it, followed by a bass guitar line and some keyboards before donning an acoustic guitar and layering in his six-string skills and laid-back vocals into the mix.

He also has a band with modern-bluegrass master Larry Keel and Larry’s wife, Jenny, aptly called Keller & The Keels. And there’s also his funk band called More Than a Little, not to mention his frequent appearances with the venerable jam-band String Cheese Incident. Overall, between 1995 and 2016, Williams released jaw-dropping 22 albums in various genres.

In fact, up until this year, there was pretty much only one thing Williams hadn’t done: a solo acoustic album. But it’s not like he hadn’t tried. Four of the tracks on his new, first-ever solo acoustic release, Raw, come from a project that Williams recorded and then abandoned six years ago.

“The plan was to play 12 different songs on 12 different guitars, and I did it,” Williams says. “But it just wasn’t right, so I didn’t release it.”

So, what prompted him to return to that all-acoustic idea and add six more new songs in the same mode? As it happens, the impetus came from a proposed tour with one of Williams’ idols, and a legendary guitarist in his own right.

“The tour was called ‘Shut the Folk Up and Listen,’” Williams says about a run with Leo Kottke. “And it was about just focusing on playing guitar and singing and telling stories through song. I was abandoning all electronics and just playing with a microphone and guitar.”

Williams will play the Flying Monkey stage on October 6, and the audience might hear some of those stripped-down songs, or they might not.

“It depends on the atmosphere,” he says. “If I find myself in that situation to where these songs can be absorbed in the right way, then I’ll definitely play them. But I’m very grateful to have a plethora of songs to choose from. With my solo shows, anything can happen at any time. There are no rules; the set could change in a second.”

Tickets to see Keller Williams are $25, and $35 for premier seating. For more information on upcoming shows or to purchase tickets call the box office at 603-536-2551 or go online at   flyingmonkeyNH.com.