In anticipation of his 20th album, Vape, we’re delighted to share the brand new single “She Rolls” from Keller Williams. In describing the track and it’s funky titular character, Williams says that he “put her on an adventure, and what an adventure she goes on!”
L4LM writer Jack Sheehan sat down with Williams to talk about Vape, playing with Phil Lesh & Friends, gigging in Alaska, and even his kids album. Check out the awesome tune and enjoy the interview below:
L4LM: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Your new album, Vape, drops on 4/20. It’s such a fitting title for this album, very clean and crisp. Where’d you record it and who engineered it and produced it? Shoutout to them!
Keller: Many of my records, the last 8 or so, have been recorded and mixed at Wally Cleaver’s Recording studio in Fredericksburg VA. I co-produced with Jeff Coburt, an incredible engineer producer singer musician. Pitch perfect. Total bro from another mother. We’ve done, I don’t know, 10 projects together and 180 episodes of a radio show. We’ve worked so much and as the crow flies, it about 2 miles by house, so it’s very close.
L4LM: We’re excited to premiere the track “She Rolls.” Can you tell us the inspiration behind that?
Keller: What I did was give myself a writing assignment. And the assignment was to create a female character and take her on an adventure. So with inspirations with guys like Danny Barnes, an incredible banjo player, he creates all kind of of characters and sings about drugs and alcohol and adventures, he’s been clean and sober for years, but he takes these people on the adventures. So I had a lot of Danny Barnes inspiration on this. A lot of my songs are about real life, and some are full on stream of consciousness spews that I end up editing into a song. “She Rolls” is very much a writing assignment that I’ve imposed on myself. Creating a female character and put her on an adventure, and what an adventure she goes on.
L4LM: That’s a great way to go about. Very artistic; you come at it as a musician and an author.
Keller: Yea, and the sky’s the limit as far as imagination and material, and what you can make this character do.
L4LM: There are a few tracks on the album that have a very eastern vibe to them. “Shinjuku” sounds like acoustic jazz-fusion. “Off Time Chorus Line” is like a raga. Where do you get the inspiration for these genre gender benders?
Keller: “Off Time Chorus Line” is definitely, you know, has a middle section in 4 with the head in 7. The idea was to skip a beat and imagine a chorus line. Like trying to kick to this music, a silly little title for instrumental tunes. I like being creative with instrumental song titles like…”butt ass nipple”.
The Asian influence is definitely there. I have this really cool electronic drum called a Korg wave drum and I get a really decent table sound drum sound. They are a very, very unique ancient type of drum that you can’t just sit down and play. But this Korg wave drum is like a posers dream; I can get all these sounds out without being trained or skilled in table. So there’s this handmade cajon given to me by a guy from a company called Jdub Cajons. It’s a really beautiful piece of wood; so that wave drum and the cajon take a real big chunk of percussion. I think the cajon was double tracked and then there’s a plethora of over the top other percussion like little triangles and shakers. I have a triangle with an oil tub on the bottle and if you tip if different ways it gets the sound of water, because there’s oil in it that moves.
L4LM: That’s really cool!
Keller: And “Shinjuku” was actually written in a hotel room in Shinjuku, which is a section of Tokyo.
The instrumental just sitting, picking, all with the fingers and harmonics. That originally came out on a live record, called stage, but I never gave it the studio treatment, that song. So I used some really cool local friend musicians on that track. John Buck on bass and Brian Barbary on drums and Gerard Johnson on keyboards, and it came out very differently sonically with the bass and the drums with the keys. It’s interesting how a solo acoustic piece can come together as an album track.
L4LM: The album ends with the song “Cava” where you proclaim your love for CA and VA. How’d those 2 great states make the list and can you pick a favorite?
Keller: Well, I love CA so much because I’m from VA. I was born and raised in VA and travelled around, moved back in 2000, married into some land, and I have a wonderful place to call home, a little slice of heaven. I’ll probably always live there, or at least until my mortgage is paid, which is scheduled to be when I am 82.
That’s when I could stop working. And being from VA as a teen playing music was to actually get my music heard on the west coast. As a teen in the 80s, the only way to do that was to have a record deal. Once you have that, you could have your record distributed, get it on the radio. Then they go to the local record or cd store. That was the old days you know? So CA was the Promised Land in my eyes as a teen. I always wanted to go out there. Strangely enough, the first time I ever played in that time zone was opening for String Cheese Incident at the Great American Music Hall in SF.
L4LM: Wow.
Keller: It used to be a bordello super long time ago. The Grateful Dead played there in 75, so there was this huge history into this room. So my introduction into that state was definitely a super high intensity moment for me and my strange fascination with music and music history. And ever since then, every time I’m out there, I try to absorb as much as I can of that world which is still the United States yet very culturally different, the Bay Area. It’s totally different from VA on that way.
L4LM: Speaking of which, 4/20, the day your album drops, you’re playing with Bay Area royalty Phil Lesh and Friends. How excited are you for that?
Keller: I am real excited for that! Its always good to hang with Phil in any capacity, especially when he’s at home and comfortable. I had the pleasure of playing with him at the Cap Theatre in Port Chester, NY. It was a weekend worth of shows, 2 sets a night. I figured that was it, a one-time thing so I was really absorbing and taking that in. Next thing I know I’m invited to play with him at 4/20 at what’s basically his home away from home. Beautiful spot.
L4LM: In San Rafael?
Keller: Yes, Terrapin Crossroads. It’s a restaurant/bar/venue that he owns. It’s on this tiny marina, I think like a few boats can pull up if the got the clearance. I think the main room holds about 300 people with the perfect Meyer sound system and really cool vibe. It’s kind of like based after Levon Helm’s barn that did so many midnight rambles.
My buddy Reed Mathis is one of like 50 musicians that get rotated in and out of different combinations, and no one really knows what different combinations there will be. I’m really excited to play with Stu Allen as well as Jackie Greene. I’ve never played with either one of those guys. You know, that’s going to be the 3 guitarmageddon! (laughs).
L4LM: Guitarmageddon… I’ve never head that word that before!
Keller: (laughs) Here’s another one that’s good too, clusterpluck! When guitarmageddon comes, there’ll be tons of clusterpluckin.
L4LM: Well, there it is. Another question for you, what on earth is it like gigging in Alaska?
Keller: Alaska is super special, people here are different as you could imagine. There are, you know, and handful of people born and raised here and then there’s a lot of implants from all over that come here to get it. It’s the last frontier. People come out of the woodworks to see music and are very, very appreciative. They are very friendly, give their love and it’s a very beautiful thing.
L4LM: I could imagine; it’s off the beaten path as far as touring goes. Another question – the kids album, how’d that come about?
Keller: Long long before I had kids, Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman released a record called Not For Kids Only and I listened to it over and over, and I didn’t have kids. So I kind of started making up songs and never really allowed myself to full on go there, but then I started to have kids. I had the songs on demos and would play them in the car and started to road test them on them. Next thing you know they started singing along to them so I took my daughter, she was 4 at the time, put a mic in front of her, and kept most over it. She’s all over that record. I guess the idea was, once I had kids, to create something that the parents could relate to and enjoy the way I related to and enjoyed the Not For Kids Only by Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman, and I think I got pretty close to that. There’s lyrics for kids but yet funny as a subliminal nod to the parents.
L4LM: That’s great.
Keller: Yea that was a fun little stint. We did about a dozen matinees in a dozen major cities. We would go and be playing a night show on Saturday, load in early, and we put a lot into it. Like, full-on balloon drop and video, and then I have a buddy who’s a drum facilitator named Ken Crampton who brought like 100 drums. As soon as the doors opened it was a facilitated drum jam. Some of the kids like that more than the drum show! And then I would play for about 45-50 minutes. So after twelve of those shows, we figured that was it. I was retired from matinees.
L4LM: That’s a hell of a story. Thanks for your time. Safe travels and we’ll see you at the Watermark with The Motet in July.
Keller: Thank you, take care man.
Catch Keller Williams on tour with the following schedule:
Friday, April 17 Sweetwater Music Hall Mill Valley CA
Saturday, April 18 – Sunday, April 19 Earth Jam Three Rivers CA Keller Williams Solo + Keller & The Keels
Monday, April 20 Terrapin Crossroads San Rafael, CA with Phil & Friends
Thursday, April 23 – Friday, April 24 Pour House Charleston SC
Saturday, April 25 Georgia Theatre Athens GA
Friday, May 1 – Sunday, May 3 Republic New Orleans LA Voodoo Dead – 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead w/ Steve Kimock, Bill Kreutzmann, Jeff Chimenti, George Porter Jr.,
Saturday, May 9 Chics Beach Festival Virginia Beach VA
Friday, May 22 Summer Camp Chillicothe IL Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass plus Keller Williams Solo late night
Saturday, May 23 Dark Star Jubilee @ Legend Valley Thornville OH Keller & The Keels
Friday, June 5 Mountain Music Festival Minden WV
Sunday, June 14 Huck Finn Jubilee Ontario CA Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass
Wednesday, July 1 Summerfest Milwaukee WI Keller Williams Solo
Thursday, July 2 The Chicago Theatre Chicago IL The Music Never Stopped – High Steppin’ into Town – A Rex Foundation Benefit ft. Greensky Bluegrass and Keller Williams w/ The Infamous Stringdusters
Saturday, July 4 Highberry US Festival Ozark AK
Friday, July 10 The Watermark w/ The Motet New York NY
Saturday, July 11 All Good Music Festival Summit Point WV
Sunday, July 12 Santa Cruz Mountain Sol Festival Felton CA Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass featuring Michael Kang & Keith Moseley
Friday, July 17 Northwest String Summit Northern Plains OR Keller Williams with The Travelin’ McCourysplus Keller Williams Grateful Grass
Thursday, July 23 Floydfest Floyd VA Keller Williams Solo, Keller & The Keels, and Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass
Saturday, August 8 Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival Alta WY Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass
Sunday, August 16 Peach Fest Scranton PA Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel featuring John Kadlecik
Saturday, September 5 Backwoods Music Festival Stroud OK
Sunday, September 13 Lockn’ Arrington VA Grateful Gospel
Saturday, October 3 Homegrown Music Festival Mebane NC
Sunday, October 4 Luna Light Festival Darlington MD Keller & The Keels