Welcome to State Of The Union, appearing each month in bluegrass now magazine! This column provides the spouses of professional bluegrass musicians with a forum in which they can share their insights, observations, and experience with fans and other bluegrass spouses.
July 2004: Johnny Williams
He's also married to Jeanette Williams, a singer whose star is steadily rising. Originally called Clearwater, Jeanette's band was actually founded in 1989 by Johnny, its guitarist. The band's name now reflects his wife's growing popularity. She's the drawing card--not to slight the other members, but that's why we've evolved into the Jeanette Williams Band, he says matter-of-factly. She's got a lot of national recognition, where nobody knows who I am outside the East Coast. There's not a trace of resentment or jealousy in this pragmatic statement. The roles he plays may be low-profile, but they are critical to Jeanette's career. In fact, one of the many hats Johnny wears is that of band manager. I'm pretty persistent, he says. I try not to miss opportunities to get her recognition and exposure in the right places. Perhaps even more significant is Johnny's role in the music. Not every band is lucky enough to have its own award-winning resident songwriter; this one does! I do a lot of arranging and write a lot of our songs. I find material I think will really showcase Jeanette and the band. That's why I like to keep a recording project; it keeps my juices flowing. He says he welcomes new tunes. I don't pass up an opportunity to listen, because it might be her next big hit! I know better than anybody what she can do. For two years in a row, Johnny won the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest, the extraordinary Americana music festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The next year I got to be a judge with John Hartford, Gillian Welch, Guy Clark, and Jim Lauderdale, and I was in heaven! I had a ball. Larry Stephenson, Junior Sisk, and Honi Deaton have all recorded his tunes. He's now being approached by the top names in the bluegrass community for material. Things have been pretty good the last couple years, says Johnny. The band's 2002 album Too Blue was released to critical acclaim. A lot of people don't know it yet, but [Jeanette's] got one of the best voices in bluegrass, wrote John Lupton in Sing Out! Magazine. Recently the band began working with Penni McDaniel of Hope River Entertainment, who will handle their bookings. Their new gospel project, Get In The Boat, entered the BN Gospel Truths Chart at #1. All this adds up to plenty of traveling. So Johnny and Jeanette have bought a bus-not a brand new luxury coach, but the best bus they could afford. It's a 1968 GMC! Johnny chuckles, wiping the transmission fluid from his hands. We bought an antique! The motor seems to be in good shape, and the transmission is, now. We had a little trouble on our first trip, but I think I finally got it fixed. We've always traveled in a van, and we wanted to go another step. This way, we can eliminate some motel rooms, just pull in the WalMart parking lot. When The Jeanette Williams Band isn't out on the road, Johnny will have no trouble keeping busy. He's working part-time for Hope River Entertainment, helping with bookings and promotion. He continues to write songs and distribute them to other musicians who are looking for new material. He helps pals like Tom T. Hall and J. Gregory Heinike (from Bell Buckle Records, the band's recording label) with various farm and remodeling projects. And if he gets bored, there's always an antique bus out in the yard to play with. I've got a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a hammer, and I do whatever I can with them, he chuckles. I'm a doer! Visit Johnny and Jeanette at www.jeanettewilliams.com.
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He was raised in a tiny town called Fries, Virginia, nestled in the Blue Ridge Highlands. His early days were spent in a house with woodstoves for heating and cooking, and no indoor plumbing. It's not surprising that Johnny Williams is a versatile man who can rise to just about any occasion. He's a farmer, a builder, a mechanic, a band manager, a promoter, a rhythm guitarist and singer, and an award-winning songwriter whose material is being recorded by increasing numbers of bluegrass artists. 