It’s Deer season and alt-folk freak Keller Williams is ready with his 35th release and a crop of new tour dates. Deer arrived on streaming services Friday, days after Keller added new tour dates carrying him into 2025, including a run of Grateful Dead/Tom Petty tribute shows with The HillBenders.
Keller’s new album follows in his 30-year tradition of giving his releases one-syllable names like Breathe, Freek, Laugh, Stage, Funk, and many more. Deer also follows in the musical niche the singer-songwriter has carved out for himself over his three decades on the scene. From the homonym wordplay of the opening “Two Lips/Tulips” to the meditative buzz of “If I Was” to lead single and album standout “Hippies for the Win”, Williams is at the top of his game with a songwriting process that has matured but with lyrics that preserve his childlike innocence.
Fredericksburg, VA native Williams, 54, built his reputation among the jam crowd for his innovative and engaging live performances. Coming into the public consciousness in the mid-’90s, he helped pioneer the now-commonplace style of solo looping performances. His concerts are largely improvised as Keller utilizes an acoustic guitar, bass, and various other instruments to build entire songs before audiences’ eyes, track by track. The end result falls somewhere between alt-folk and rustic electronica, something the artist jokingly refers to as “acoustic dance music” or ADM. Williams’ dynamic multi-instrumentation is found throughout Deer, playing all the instruments except for co-producer Jeff Covert who played drums and electric guitar on “If I Was” and drums on “Nothing Hurts”.
“Deer came out of nowhere and charged my lights,” Williams said of the album. “Next thing you know, everything changed. Songs appeared then were recorded. I’m super proud of this one. Please enjoy.”
Along with Deer, Williams shared a new batch of 2025 tour dates. Kicking off on January 9th in Tuscon, AZ, the barefoot bard will survey the Southwest, Northeast, and Midwest for a dozen shows, culminating with a three-show run of DeadPettyKellerGrass concerts with frequent collaborators The HillBenders. Williams and The HillBenders will stage their Grateful Dead/Tom Petty tributes in Cleveland, OH (2/14), Wheeling, WV (2/15), and Fort Wayne, IN (2/16). Before that, Keller has a run of co-headlining dates with The Motet through next week, with another dozen solo shows before the end of the year. Tickets to all Keller Williams’ tour dates are on sale now via his website. See below for a full list of concerts.
Keller Williams — Deer
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