Acoustic guitarist and one-man band Keller Williams started his career in background music.
"It was just a place where people would go to eat, and there would happen to be this dude playing music in the corner - I was that dude," he said.
Williams began his solo career performing at small restaurants and bars. Playing out of the spotlight allowed him to hone his craft.
"There was really zero stress, because no one was really paying attention," he said. "So, I was really able to do whatever I want and play any kind of song any way I wanted."
After a while, Williams added electronic music to his show to create a dance vibe.
"It was then that people started to kind of listen, and then I started to go be able to sell tickets and go into actual music venues," he said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Williams will perform with the WMD'S on Tuesday at El Rey Theater. The WMD'S include bass player Keith Moseley, guitarist Gibb Droll and drummer Jeff Sipe.
"They are a hand-picked group of guys that I just totally respected over the years and were a fan of first before I got to meet them," Williams said. "I think that it all came about simply because of timing. I had been playing solo for many years and wanted to have a band. All of a sudden, the timing was just right for the four of us to come together and do this project. I'm thinking I speak for us all in that we're having a really good time with it."
On Williams' latest album, Dream, he performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead - an artist he respects.
"It was a song I wrote with Bob in mind, and it was a very surreal experience, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome of that track," he said. "Just to hear Bob Weir sing the lyrics that I wrote and play the chords that I made up - it was like some kind of dream that I never thought would come close to coming true."
Kathy Zimmer, owner of El Rey Theater, said hosting an artist like Williams is rare for New Mexico.
"Keller Williams is a very interesting and very talented musician in the jam-band world," she said. "Also, a lot of people who aren't interested in jam bands like Keller. This is a very different show than what he normally does."
Williams encourages fans to bootleg recordings of his live shows. He said he comes from the school of the Grateful Dead, who encouraged bootleg recording.
"The live-taping community was really the only way to get my music out there. I didn't have any kind of record deal. I didn't have any kind of distribution," he said. "People coming and recording shows and then trading tapes with other people was just a logical thing. Plus, I don't really make my living off of record sales."
Though he doesn't mind audio recordings, Williams said he dislikes videotaping.
"You look out at the audience, and you see someone videotaping, and that kind of evokes some ideas of what's happening or what they are going to do with it," he said. "And then, at the same time, I'm supposed to be concentrating on the lyrics, and then I'll mess up. It's just throwing off my thought process to see."
Williams said he used to juggle in his show.
"The flash photography would totally throw off my concentration, and I would drop everything," he said. "Since then, I have ceased the juggling in the show. I'll leave that to the professionals."
Keller Williams and the WMD'S
El Rey Theater
620 Central Ave S.W.
Tuesday
7 p.m.
$20 students with ID
$22 in advance
$25 at the door
