Roger and JD Williams — Father and son meld their individual musical styles to create a toe-tapping, rousing musical experience; the family on-stage chemistry is magic!
Described by Bluegrass Now magazine as “one of bluegrass music’s most colorful and innovative resophonic guitarists today,” Roger Williams, noted for his masterful touch on the instrument, has toured throughout the world. He started playing the resophonic, Dobro style guitar in1963, when he was a young teenager. Within the first year, he had debuted with The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover at the Hillbilly Ranch in Boston, Mass. Since then he has gone on to perform and/or record with many well respected bluegrass and folk acts on the national and international circuit. Career highlights include thirteen overseas tours with various artists, including a performance at the prestigious Dobro Festival in Slovakia, and teaching workshops during Bluegrass Week at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV.
JD Williams grew up steeped in the Williams family musical tradition, learning multiple instruments at a very early age thanks to his dad’s influence. As an in-demand sideman and session player, JD has performed with various ensembles and musicians in the New England and greater New York City area, including the award-winning bluegrass band Southern Rail, the acclaimed Syracuse songwriter duo the Cadleys, and Connecticut songwriter Nathan Day. Today this Berklee College of Music grad exhibits a youthful style all his own with jazz and blues influences.