Reviews of Tim's new CD - 

"Evenings Among Friends"

SCENE Roots & Blues Magazie 

"Tim Williams is one of those rare breed of performers who possesses a warmth and humility that draws listeners in, creating a vibe akin to sitting around a living room or a campfire and listening to an old friend share some songs and stories. Therefore it is quite a treat to be able to sit back in your favorite chaire and listen to him do just that, accompanied only by his guitar. Recorded live in his adopted hometown of Calgary, the sound of Evenings Among Friends is clear without ever sounding sterile, and Tim's voice sounds so warm, you almost wonder how he found the spare key and got into your house - then you hear the crowd at the end of the song, and are reminded that this is an album. As an added bonus the liner notes feature a few words from Mr. Williams about each song. A master doing what he does best. Sit back and enjoy."

Montreal Gazette 

"...this 65-minute set showcases Tim Williams as one of this country's finest acoustic blues revivalists. Williams is a fine ragtime and slide guitar picker who takes the songs of musical forebearers like Brownie McGhee and Scrapper Blackwell and makes them his own with just theright amount of respect and innovation." (Four Stars)

" This live disc...is a walking, talking history of the blues that struts soulfully down timeless avenues. Williams' playing is subtle 'n' superb, his vocals as relaxed and inviting as the setting summer sun."

"There are a lot of people calling themselves blues players who owe a bit more to Neil Young and Van Morrison than Big Bill Broonzy or Skip James. Not Tim Williams. On this and his previous CDs he has stuck to the road that starts with the Missippi Delta, winds through Florida, New Orleans, Georgia, the Appalachians, goes up to Chicago via New York and Detroit and ends up in Tennessee (Memphis or Nashville - take your pick), The California born, Canadian resident is a great and sometimes flashy acoustic player with a spirited sense of melody in his arrangements of classic tunes. ...a very good raconteur, his hilarious introduction to the Willie Dixon classic My Babe is a treat. He also sings like a bird...Add this one to your collection."

"...superb. Anyone who's caught Williams live in the past or heard his other recent studio discs knows the California-raised bluesmanhas a warm vocal delivery with real character behind it. Still, it's thegreat guitar work that really sticks out over the 17-track, 65-minute album."

This is the second CD of Tim Williams' music we've reviewed, and it's just as excellent as the first. He's a country blues picker not afraid to expand the parameter of the genre with a song like "A Lover's Question", and who writes some truly great original songs himself. One of my favorites closes his 14 song set here: "The Ones Who Made The Blues". Many of these tunes are original, but he also draws from Yank Rachell, Blind Willie Johnson, Jimmie Rogers, and the repertoires of Pee Wee Crayton ("You Know Yeah", written by Pee Wee's wife Esther) and Hoyt Axton (the elusive "Willie Jean". Anyone out there know who actually composed this traditional song recorded by many, including the Blue Magoos?) Tim's accompanied on some of these by various musicians and instruments, including a jug band arrangement of slide guitarist Steve Pineo's "He Didn't Quite Make It". Fine picking and singing throughout-even some great jug playing by Mark Sadler-Brown on a couple! A little piano here, a little harmonica there. You'd pretty much have to be prejudiced against white   bluesmen not to like this one a lot, I think.

Hour Spins

Top Pick

****

Tim Williams

Indigo Incidents (Cayuse)

Ex Californian and longtime Cowtowner Tim Williams masterfully encompasses a variety of traditions in this outing, embracing the writings of everyone from Blind Willie Johnson (Death Ain't Got No Mercy In A Storm) and Jimmie Rogers (Somewhere Down The Mason-Dixon Line) to fellow Calgarian Steve Pineo (He Didn't Quite Make It) and his own self on six titles. Williams brings sophistication to these rural, folksy setting thanks to the voice and instrumental prowess he has accumulated through the course of a 30-year career. Plenty o' class, understatement and local colour.

(Dean Cottrill) 

Blues 

Review

Canadian Tim Williams purveys acoustic blues exclusively on Indigo Incidents (Cayuse 002). There's good playing here, from the violent resonator slide on Yank Rachell's "Ain't Seen No Whiskey" to the borrowed Skip James arrangement of "Fool You Always Knew" to the jug-band sound of "Didn't Quite Make It" Blind Willie Johnson's "Death Ain't Got No Mercy In A Storm" is especially potent, and Williams' "Like a Gambler'd Change His Vest" just one of his strong and varied pieces here, is good blues wrought around an expanded metaphor.

Living Blues

Tim Williams is a seasoned acoustic guitarist from Calgary, Alberta. This is a well crafted and never pretentious set of nicely varied acoustic blues.

Tim Williams

Indigo Incidents

(Cayuse TW

002-Canada)

Blues 

Access

Tim Williams*Indigo Incidents

Canadian singer Williams has a great grasp of the folk-piedmont style.

Living Blues

Short Takes

Tim Williams, Riverboat Rendezvous

It takes more than technical skill to update prewar acoustic blues styles without sounding either pretensions or disrespectful. Covering the Mississippi Sheiks, Tampa Red, Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, and Willie McTell takes a lot of nerve, but Tim Williams has the taste, panache, and style to pull it off. He also writes a pretty good song himself. --PRA