She was wonderful!
My camera was unable to really capture the moment very well but it was great - take my word on it.
When I first heard that Williams was going to be in Stoughton, I investigated her music and found it to be quite beautiful, in addition to being tuneful. She fingerpicks and, as you can see above, she often plays with her guitar bottom down on her lap which allows her to tap the fretboard.
I have her second album, Urban Driftwood, so it was neat to hear a couple tunes from that. The rest was terra incognita for me.
She explained her unusual method of playing as being derived from the days of her youth playing Guitar Hero. With the guitar controller on her lap, she would furiously tap the buttons. When she graduated to a guitar, this method followed her to the real instrument.
The set was littered with her stories and banter between songs. She seemed genuinely chuffed that there were people in the audience who had paid to hear her play. "Hummingbird", we learned, was inspired by her first visit to Pittsburgh which left her less than impressed while "New Beginnings" was dedicated to her mother.
For "Through the Woods" she set a kalimba on her guitar and told us that she first heard it on an Earth, Wind & Fire album that featured Maurice White playing it. I adore this song from Urban Driftwood and was thrilled that she played it that night. For "Nectar" she pulled out a Gibson double neck guitar, laid it on her lap, and proceeded to play both necks simultaneously. Brilliant!
Williams just seemed incredibly enthusiastic about her art. She loves to play and try new things with her instrument. For instance, when she got her Gibson, she sought out directions on playing it on Youtube where she discovered lots of videos of Jimmy Page performing with it. "The Songs Remains the Same" all fine and good, but not for her. Since nothing online appealed to her, she just made up her own method - playing both necks at the same time. Her enthusiasm was infectious and her delight at the results of her creativity was almost childlike in its evocation of simple joy.
Aside from her inter-song chats and her incredible talent playing the guitar in an unusual manner, her music was just gorgeous. Song titles are often about nature whether it be animals, non-man-made environments, or the weather and the music has a lovely, bucolic feel. You know how Rush's "Red Barchetta" has that racing down the road in a convertible feel, with the wind in your hair? Well, Williams' music is like that but with no car and walking through the wood instead. But it still has that wind in the hair thing going for it.
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