Chicago Tribune
December 9, 2001
Sunday, Arts & Entertainment, Years Best
By David Royko

Tony Williamson and the Williamson Brothers Band 
Still Light of the Evening (Mapleshade/Wildchild). 
Look no further than the Williamson Brothers for a 
lesson on precisely what makes brother duets so 
unique. The two men--Tony and Gary--sing as one while 
maintaining their own individual sounds, and make it 
seem easy. Brother Tony also is among the finest 
mandolinists alive, and the instrumental passages, 
featuring an excellent band assembled for this 
session, dazzle without ever lapsing into flashiness. This is great music hiding behind genuine hum

Triad Style Magazine 2001

Tony Williamson: A Man Born To Play The Mandolin 

By Brian Sine

..........when he gets going, letting his fingers fly across the strings, it's obvious to everyone who listens. He should never put that instrument down. 

.............Williamson is known as one of the best mandolin players today. Local bluegrass expert Roy Moore calls him "mandolin obsessed, in a good way." And it's that obsession that drives him to be so good. 

Williamson first started playing with his family when he was just 4 years old and began playing fiddler's conventions with his own band when he was 11. His accolades show it. He and his brother Gary have been snagging awards at bluegrass festivals - including the world championships at Galax and Union Grove - since 1968. Tony was the first ever mandolin champion at Fiddler's Grove. He also has received five Grammy Award nominations and numerous International Bluegrass Music Awards (IBMA's). 

But the joy is watching Williamson perform live. It's an experience I can only think would be like listening to Beethoven or Jimi Hendrix play live. But he is more than a master on his instrument. He also knows what moves others and has a profound knowledge of the role music plays in people's lives.

"Plato said it best," Williamson said. "He said, 'music is the essence of order and leads to all that is good, just and beautiful.'" 

Williamson's interests in music blossomed in the summer of 1970. He found jazz and classical music at Governor's School in Winston-Salem and began unearthing interests far beyond his homestead outside Siler City. 

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"That was when I discovered that there was another world out there beyond our little log cabin and our back porch," he said. "I started branching out into other forms of music and differentiating myself from other traditional artists I grew up with."

He continues to use these influences in his life. He now performs with an all-star band he jokingly refers to as Martha and the Moonlighters. .....

"I am impressed with Tony because he isn't just one of those guys who plays really fast," Bassett said about his abilities. "Tony makes everyone around him sound so much better. As a singer I really love that."

........... when he plays, he dips into a variety of genres and puts his own touches on everything his band performs. 

"Tony is exceptional in many areas (of music)," said Moore, who anchors the Triad's only bluegrass show, "The Old Country Store'' at 6 p.m. every Saturday on WQFS (90.9 FM). "For being so versatile he is one of the best. There are some that can play traditional better but they aren't as good as Tony in other (styles)."

Since the popularity of the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou," bluegrass music is being opened to a whole new audience. It's still nowhere near mainstream acceptance, but Williamson has noticed younger audiences since the George Clooney movie was released. 

"It's kind of a phenomenon," said Williamson, referring to the revival of interest due to the movie. "That movie gives the crowd a way to react. It's sort of like Pavlov's dogs. You can train people to be a certain way. It's exciting."

Tony grew up attending the Holiness Church. He enjoyed playing in church, but he was intrigued by the musical camaraderie at the fiddler conventions. Both forces both shaped Tony. Today, these forces continue to influence the music he performs and writes. 

Another strong influence on Williamson was Bill Monroe. He loved Monroe's style of playing. He would spend hours listening to Monroe on record just trying to imitate his style. Then, every time Monroe played nearby, he begged his parents to let him see him. His parents obliged, and when they did, he often talked - and sat in - with the musician known by many as the Grandfather of Bluegrass. 

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"Here I was this chubby 11-year-old kid, and Bill kind of just took me under his wing," Williamson said about those influential times. "He took me on the bus and we would play for long hours and he'd show me stuff." 

Monroe didn't impose things on him, but he left it up to him to decide what sounded best and when to incorporate different movements. Take Monroe's song "Dusty Miller." Williamson bought the record and spent long hours learning to play that song note for note. He wanted to sound just like Monroe. The next time Williamson saw Monroe at a local fiddler's convention, he went backstage to impress his mentor. Monroe asked for a tune, and Williamson played "Dusty Miller" note for note from Monroe's record. After Williamson finished, he looked at Monroe. Monroe said nothing. Instead, Monroe took Williamson's mandolin and played the song completely different. 

"I was crushed," Williamson said about the incident that occurred when he was no older than 13. "I thought I had learned it wrong.'' 

Not to be defeated, Williamson kept a close eye on Monroe and tried to imitate Monroe's new technique. Tony spent all night learning Monroe's right-hand shuffle style. The next day, Williamson's band played before Monroe took the stage. When Monroe came on, Williamson sat in the audience and watched. Out of the blue, Monroe called Williamson on-stage to play. Nervous and excited, Williamson stood beside his hero and heard Monroe tell audience they were going to perform "Dusty Miller" - together.

"I stuck that mandolin right up to the microphone and started playing that shuffle just like he had showed me," Williamson remembered.

Then came the other shock. "He went right back to playing it like he had on the record."

Monroe's lesson has stuck with Williamson ever since.

"It's called counter-point in classical music," Williamson said. "When you play with someone, you don't want to play the exact same thing they do. You want to compliment them, and balance it off. It was a special moment for me because I understood composition for the first time."

The lesson wasn't yet finished for Williamson that day. Monroe gave Williamson a nod and left him on-stage to lead the Bluegrass Boys. Tony was alone with what he called "the greatest band of all time." He kept playing, but he was worried that he couldn't lead the band correctly. So he kept looking around for Monroe. He saw him just offstage. 

"I thought he was doing all of this for me," Williamson says today. "He was standing in the wings with this young beautiful girl with a halter top on. The father of Bluegrass was rubbing the belly of a 20-year-old fan while I was leading the Bluegrass Boys!"

Growing up outside of Siler City gave Williamson his rural roots that he still holds dear. But his formal education gave him much of his broad outlook on life. After graduating with a high school class of less than 100, Williamson enrolled in UNC-Chapel Hill. He graduated with honors in 1974 with an undergraduate degree in English Literature, and was poised to enter into a teaching career. But after being accepted into several of the country's top masters programs, he decided to stay at Chapel Hill. In 1975, he took a year off to concentrate on music. He has never looked back.

Williamson's next project will take him back to where he left off 26 years ago. This fall he's heading out with the author Robert Morgan on what they call a "Music and Literature Tour.'' No smoky bars this time. Just bookstores. Morgan will read a passage from his upcoming book; Williamson will play songs from "Still Light Of The Evening,'' his latest CD with The Williamson Brothers Band. 

"Literature and music go hand in hand," Williamson said. "Hopefully when someone listens to one of our records they can listen to it on the gut level where they just enjoy the music. Or, if they are the type of person who wants to look for meaning, there is meaning there. Sometimes there's a deeper meaning to the work as a whole."

This duality is likely to continue long into the future. He never signs a multi-record deal, so he never has to answer to a label. But can keep putting out what he feels like playing. And he sees no reason to stop. 

"What am I going to retire from?" Williamson asked. "I get up in the morning every day and do what I want." 

Jack Bernhardt 
"Still Light of the Evening." 

Often we rely upon the national media to define our standards when excellence can be found in our own back yard. Siler City's Tony Williamson is a world renowned mandolin player, bluegrass musician and band leader whose admirers include Ralph Stanley, Doc Watson and Sam Bush. While Tony and his brother Gary have recorded several notable duet albums, "Still Light of the Evening" (Wildchild!) is the first CD featuring the siblings with the Williamson Brothers Band.

The 15 track CD consists of original and traditional tunes and songs constructed around the Southern dialectic of loss and redemption. Most of the original songs were written by Tony Williamson, including the waltz time title track, the snappy lead-off, "Boatman," and "White Angels in the Clouds," a soft gospel reflection written for the Williamsons' grandmother. Other selections include Bill Monroe's hard-driving instrumental "Back Up and Push," "Rovin' Gambler" and the popular string band tune "Angeline the Baker."

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The measure of an artist is reflected in the musicians he associates with, and Williamson has assembled some of the best. Gary handles most of the lead vocals and rhythm guitar. John Hartford String band alumnus Larry Perkins (a Kannapolis native) picks banjo and guitar. Don Wright (banjo and guitar), Rex McGee (fiddle and lead guitar) and former Seldom Scene bassist Tom Gray round out the veteran band.

The CD was recorded in a small private studio in Maryland, using two-track analog tape with the musicians gathered in a semicircle around an arrangement of microphones. The technology and recording technique result in a warmth and spontaneity seldom achieved in more high tech studios.

The live sound is just one of the special qualities of this alluring CD, which whets the appetite for hearing Tony Williamson and company live on the concert trail.

REVIEWS OF  ALL FOR NAUGHT
    It's a great album for listening--almost as engaging as his live show--, and an excellent study guide for serious instrumentalists who can listen and learn from Tony's relaxed style and impeccable skill.  This collection is a rich lode of licks, runs, riffs and figures that aren't clouded by other instruments and competing rhythms  Central Texas Bluegrass Association

Tony Williamson's All For Naught (Mandolin Central MCP-0001) and Across The Grain  (Plucked String PSD-005D).  Plucked Hell!  It's mandolin man Tony Williamson!  He's back with a pair of fine instrumental albums that explore a variety of moods and 'tudes.  Across the Grain  finds him performing in various ensemble configurations, including several that include Dobro master Jerry Douglas and fiddler Jason Carter. Williamson delves into folk, jazz and bluegrass pieces with crafty arrangements that range from muscular, fast-paced mando merriment to the soothing and calm.  All for Naught  takes a similar approach, only in a solo context.  Whether on his own, or accompanied, Williamson's attention to nuance and devotion to his craft makes these solid efforts worthy of attention.  (AP)  Dirty Linen #69, April/May 1997.
 

Reviews of "The Sound of the American Mandolin" (video) PSV-001. 
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"There is a wealth of information packed in this hour long video:  its well worth the consideration of mandolin players and should be required viewing before buying a mandolin!"  --Central Texas Bluegrass Association, Austin TX,  June 1995

    Williamson demonstrates characteristic tones and timbres (of the mandolin family instruments) with his dazzling performances.   Williamson is a fine mandolin player and (has) a storehouse of knowledge about the instrument."  --Vintage Guitar magazine, July 1995.

    Tony Williamson is a mandolinist extraordinaire, considered by those  "in the know" to be one of the best mandolin players anywhere."  Central Texas Bluegrass Bulletin, Sept '95.

    Mandolin virtuoso Tony Williamson. . .sure can play, and what he doesn't  know about mandolins, nobody does.   Acoustic Musician, Nov 1995.

Spectator Magazine, January 27,1987: 
    "Much of the audience's time is spent waiting for Tony W. to unleash his mandolin to the mandatory gasps and shrieks of the wonder struck and otherwise impressed."
 

Jimmy Murphy  E'lec'tricity,  (Sugar Hill) liner notes : 
    "Tony Williamson on guitar......provides the firm rythm allowing Murphy the freedom to fully explore his music." 
-Richard K. Spottswood 
 

Bluegrass Unlimited, February 1979:
    (Review of Jimmy Murphy's Electricitiy) 
    "Spirit, life, vitality, soul, feeling, humor, subtlety, warmth, passion and Lord knows what else went into this record......I'd trade fifty ho-hum bluegrass albums for one of any kind of music that could make me feel as good as this beauty from Jimmy Murphy does....Back up is magnificent because, in addition to being well executed (was there any doubt?) it is so right for Murphy's music." 
 

Bluegrass Unlimited, October 1974: 
    "The group (Green Valley Ramblers) performs with energetic abandon and there is a lot of good old-fashioned drive to their playing." 
Muleskinner News, October 1974:
    (Review of Bluegrass Dawn by Green Valley Ramblers) 
    "This is a Bluegrass album with a difference.  Tony Williamson, who sings baritone and plays mandolin for the Green Valley Ramblers, has contributed eight original songs and instrumentals including one co-written with Gary Williamson.  "Original"  is often a misnomer, but Tony's work is thought provoking and original.....Williamson's songs are mature, straight-forward, and well thought out, and the Green Valley Ramblers treat Bluegrass with appropriate respect.  In "Lonely Plateau", the group captures something of the late-1940s Stanley Brothers sound, in an emotive, very effective lyric.  The Ramblers display a tough, taut sound in their five instrumentals.  Gary Williamson's banjo is as powerful as Tony's mandolin, and J.B. Prince has been an accomplished fiddler for many years...."Red Maple Grove", a chordally imaginative mandolin piece, is a particularly outstanding cut.....This is , overall, a fine album, with a great deal to recommend it."
 

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Bluegrass Unlimited, March 1971: 
    "The Bluegrass Gentlemen are one of the better young bands instrumentally speaking".

Bluegrass Unlimited, September 1970: 
   " Although the Bluegrass Gentlemen are young, not many bands of their age have done as many things and been awarded as many prizes as they have.  The future lies with the young and this bluegrass future looks promising with this fine group to protect, promote and preserve it."