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Not just a great one-armed guitar player, a great guitar player.
A skilled guitarist with over two decades of experience, Lefty
Williams holds songcraft and musicianship at a premium. By
emphasizing each equally on his ironically titled sophomore album
Snake Oil, he engages and enlightens the listener. In turn, we fall
for Williams’ powerful guitar licks and candid songs, often long
before the origin of his nickname—he was born without a right
hand—is clear. And by then, it’s just another dimension to his
talent.
“I definitely don’t wanna shy away from my arm,” says the Atlanta
born-and-bred songwriter/musician, who’s been playing guitar since
age 4. He started out strumming with the end of his “nubb,” and
fashioned his first prosthetic pick at 6. “I was just using the skin
on my arm—the same way a fingerstyle player would use his thumb.
Then I wanted to play faster.” On his grandfather’s hunch, Lefty
approached his prosthetician who devised a sock-like leather wrap.
“It didn’t work at all,” he laughs, saying he finally “tore apart my
prosthetic arm,” using the strap and part of the harness to fashion
something that worked.
Henceforth a self-taught musician, Lefty refined his skills by
listening. “After my dad taught me basic chords, he showed me how to
figure it out on my own. I remember we were listening to the guitar
solo part of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and my dad pointing out all the
guitar parts that were going on in the background and saying,
‘That’s the kinda stuff you gotta listen for. If you can figure all
those out and how to play ‘em at the same time, you can make it
sound like the record.’”
Soon Lefty was transcribing songs by Steppenwolf, Led Zeppelin
and Yes before moving on to more difficult material. By 11, he was
playing in bands. “Death metal!” he laughs. While playing upright
bass in the school orchestra he learned how to read music, and in
1998 he made his way to the Atlanta Institute of Music to hone his
guitar skills. There he found that his condition put him on equal—if
not higher—footing than his peers and instructors at the Atlanta
Institute of Music, who envied his “perfect” picking technique. “A
lot of guitar players change between moving their wrists and their
elbow and their fingers,” he says. “Mine never really changes.”
After graduating with honors, Lefty was offered a teaching
position at AIM. During that time, he gravitated from metal to
grunge bands learning valuable lessons from each. “I can shred if I
want to,” he says, “but I get really bored with that. The one thing
I took from grunge music was not soloing, just taking your time and
making your songs as good as you can possibly make them.”
This knowledge served him well as he grew into the bluesy, jazzy
style he plays today, which nods to Jimi Hendrix, Albert King,
Aquarium Rescue Unit, Miles Davis, Stevie Ray Vaughn and early Led
Zeppelin—all artists that understand the importance of a great song.
Lefty also heeded their performances, and worked to construct a
combustible live show with the Lefty Williams Band, which quickly
became a big draw at local and regional clubs like Smith’s Olde Bar
(Atlanta), Murphy’s (Boone, North Carolina) and The Dunedin Brewery
(Dunedin, Florida). The LWB has also opened for the likes of Gov’t
Mule, Tim Reynolds, Little Feat, Jimbo Mathus, Col. Bruce and the
Quark Alliance and the Chris Duarte Group.
In 2006, Lefty recorded his debut album, Big Plans, produced by
John Keane (REM, Widespread Panic). It brought a dynamic range of
music to the table, from high energy like “Shine Begins to Fade” to
soulful tracks like “Sunny,” in which Lefty's innate sense of groove
and melody, coupled with an expressive, visceral guitar sound,
coalesce. Big Plans received raves from Relix, Hittin’ the Note, and
Jambase.com, and Williams toured for 18 months behind it, all the
while writing like a fiend. By the end of 2007, he got the itch to
return to the studio.
Once again teaming with Keane, who says "Lefty's sound is a
compelling combination of honest, heartfelt lyrics and masterful
rhythm and blues muscle," Lefty reaches deep into personal
experience on Snake Oil. “There’s a lot more honesty in these
songs,” Lefty says. The dirty, groovin’ title track refers to
two-faced industry types, specifically “a guy who promised me the
world and then kinda hosed me.” His divorce fuels the funky “Thank
You,” where he acknowledges the silver lining, and thanks his ex for
kicking him out. “We’re both better off now.” And the sweet, tender
“A Little Bit of Faith” (featured on the Relix CD sampler for June
2008) is written for “my current wife. It’s just a promise to her
that I’m not gonna goof around on her.”
Musically, Lefty soars on Snake Oil, ratcheting up the earthy yet
sophisticated sound of Big Plans. He achieves a coolly smoldering
burn—merging King’s world with Davis’s—with “On the Prowl;” suffers
through his slide guitar on the gospel-tinged “In the Valley;”
channels playful lust on the jumpin’ “Hey Mama;” and creates a taut,
stinging three-minute guitar feast with “Salt Stained Moment.” The
LWB’s taut grooves are augmented by two guests: Todd Smallie (The
Derek Trucks Band) plays bass on “Why Didn’t You Call,” and “On the
Prowl” and “Hey Mama” feature blues luminary and fellow Atlanta
resident Tinsley Ellis.
Says Ellis, “I was knocked out by Lefty the first time I heard
his music on MySpace. I just knew that I had to seek him out and
hear more of his stuff. He is a veritable triple threat on certainly
guitar but also as a soulful vocalist and clever songwriter. The
fact that he is out there winning over fans one at a time with his
nonstop touring schedule is definitely something that I can relate
to. I was thrilled when he asked me to guest on his new album.”
Having already given many of the songs on Snake Oil a live test
drive, Lefty looks forward to presenting them fully realized on
another lengthy tour in 2008. Mostly, though, he’s chomping at the
bit to play live, electrifying audiences with his musical virtuosity
and heartworn songs. “Let’s just make some cool music,” he says.
“That’s all I’ve ever really cared about.”
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Artist's Web Site
See a YouTube clip from Lefty Williams
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