Artists:Randall Williams
From WWR
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It's Randall's voice you hear first. Thoughtful words seeping through a mellow baritone allude to the years of arias and oratorios that it took to finally ditch the bow tie in deference to the six-string and a button-down shirt.
You'll hear his right hand pop and bass-funk-thunk its way through songs--songs that could have been sweet campfire tunes in a previous incarnation until they were thrown to the muse of rhythm. There's still plenty of room for smooth fingerpicking, but it has to get around the tuneful taste for groove and color.
Color like the rich chords of a dozen alternate guitar tunings makes sense, at least as much as three capos at a time. Six strings form a musical clothesline hanging songs from a life of travel.
whereisrandall is more than a website--it's an attitude of openness: the ability to be at home in a Bangkok slum or a Senegalese village, at the Kennedy Center or the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels sandwiched between a twitchy orchestra and a full house, or shoeless on the floor of your living room. Randall has sung in cafés, restaurants, churches, pubs, homes, and concert halls in more than 35 countries.
"It comes down to how we love--not where we draw the line." Randall writes from a life of living strong and loving true--all the faith one can muster, placing so much energy and time on the long shot, and then redefining and rebuilding anew, again.
He counts three albums to date, the songs of his own travels, the fiery arcs of love affairs, and making spontaneous magic with other musicians. Each compass point is new opportunity to bridge the imagined gaps between people and place, between where we have been, and who we can become.
Two hours after informing his voice teacher that he was leaving the world of classical music, Randall Williams graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium at the head of his class.
He felt that classical music lacked the inclusiveness of folk music, and that the inevitable divide between performer and audience was unbearable. And so Randall returned to the world of traveling with his guitar, writing songs in train stations and sleeping on couches, then singing and playing on street corners, cafés, and pubs. For a time he lived aboard a 20-foot sailboat that he bought for $800, teaching himself how to sail by single-handing through the Baltic and North Seas with his guitar sleeping in the berth beside him at night. He wrote a book about the trip, which begins with the story of almost getting squashed by a tanker before dawn one morning in the North Sea.
He moved to North Africa, then set off across the Sahara by hitching with locals--bouncing through a minefield on the way that made his mother have bad dreams. He loved the adventure, but he missed the music.
In 2005, Randall returned stateside to scrounge up a career as a performing songwriter, hoping it wasn't too late. So far, it hasn't been. As the "Partial Capo Guy," Randall has written two books for Hal Leonard, recorded a DVD for Kyser Musical Products, and given workshops at some of the biggest festivals in United States. As a performer, Randall has been a finalist in the Founder's Title and Mid-Atlantic Song Contests, a regional finalist at Kerrville, a showcase artist at Northeast and Midwest Folk Alliance as well as the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, and an Audience Favorite at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. His 2007 live release, One Night in Louisiana, made a respectable dent in the folk DJ charts (one single, "Lebanon," was #8 in May) and he's generally a nice guy to have around, capos or not.
Randall is at home in a Bangkok slum or a Senegalese village, at the Kennedy Center in D.C.--or the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels sandwiched between a twitchy orchestra and a full house, or shoeless on the floor of your living room. Randall has sung in a dozen languages in more than 35 countries.
Lynne Andrews: "When Randall left the confines of classical music largely behind, they lost a great talent, but the world gained a good friend--a friend who will tell its stories with grace, compassion, humility and humor.".
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| Has played live at Whole Wheat Radio. |
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| Eclecticlibrarian has seen this performer live. |
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You are in for a treat at the Wheat Palace! I saw Randall at the Anchorage Folk Festival. I was impressed by his great voice and found him very interesting. Have fun! Rocky 00:45, January 27, 2008 (AKST)
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Albums on WWR
Video
[http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=WILLIAMSRA Kennedy Center Millennium Stage performance]
Request a show of songs by Randall Williams
| Song | Album | Length | Played | Overall | You | Tags | Single Request |
| Lebanon | Praying For Land | 5:19 | 1 |  2 votes |
You have to login to give your opinion about songs. | Murder Of Crows | One Night In Louisiana | 2:44 | 5 |  7 votes |
You have to login to give your opinion about songs. | Singer-songwriter / Acoustic guitar / Solo vocalist / Acoustic | Talk 5 | One Night In Louisiana | 2:16 | 3 | 3 votes |
You have to login to give your opinion about songs. | Acoustic guitar / Singer-songwriter |
| Total Time | 10:19 |
The current music queue contains 2 songs that will take 13 mins, 49 secs to play.
Artist name is|Randall Williams Last played| more than 1 week ago ---------------------------------------- Show name| Songs by Randall Williams Length| 15 minutes Order by| random Limit| 3 songs ----------------------------------------
Stats
- Spotlighted: Saturday, June 9th 2007
- Artist site clicks: 24
- Songs on WWR: 33
- Total plays: 120
- Total requests: 86
- Total listens: 3781
- CDBaby website clicks: 4
- CDBaby referrals: 2
- CDBaby sales: One Night in Louisiana (Sold 1 copies)
Praying for Land (Sold 1 copies)
Other skins for artist pages
| Default / Simple / Classic / Jimbob / For Playing Around With / 12-stringer / Atuu / Mert / Kelli / Rubenerd |
