Randall Williams

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 bowtie in deference to the six-string and a button-down shirt. You'll hear his right hand pop and bass-funk-thunk it's 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 turning six strings into a musical clothesline from which to hang songs from a life of travel.