The music of Jack Williams, rooted in his native South Carolina, has been shaped by over six decades of playing folk, rock, jazz, R&B, classical and the popular music of the 30s, 40s and 50s. He is counted among the most dynamic performers in the world of contemporary acoustic music.

Jack writes vivid songs with a strong sense of place, and a storyteller in an old Southern tradition who further illustrates each tale with his guitar. Rich Warren of WFMT Chicago's The Midnight Special said, "His artistry is nothing short of amazing." Vic Heyman wrote, in Sing Out! magazine, “He is one of the strongest guitar players in contemporary folk.”

Jack has played main stages at the  Newport, Boston, Philadelphia, Kerrville, New Bedford SummerFest Folk Festivals, as well as intimate living room house concerts across the country.

Jack has eleven CDs of original music on the Wind River (Folk Era) label, the newest being “Far Away, Long Ago”, plus his DVD “High Cotton”, a video collection of on-stage performances. The CD, “Don’t Let Go”, is a collection of cover songs reflecting major influences on his musical development. Jack has produced all of his own recordings, as well as CDs by Mickey Newbury, Ronny Cox, Eric Schwartz, and others.

His songs have been recorded by artists ranging from Tom Jones and David Clayton-Thomas to Chuck Pyle, Cindy Mangsen, Ronny Cox and Lowen & Navarro. In addition to his solo career, as a guitarist he has accompanied such luminaries as Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary), Mickey Newbury and Harry Nilsson.

Kevin Oliver of No Depression magazine described Jack’s music as “...a musical style that’s equal parts folk storytelling and Tin Pan Alley songcraft, delivered with the impassioned soul of an old blues singer." Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) called Jack "the best guitar player I've ever heard."

Calling Jack a folksinger is kind of like calling Thomas Edison an electrician.  He does so many things, and does them so well.  I won't forget sitting backstage at the main stage of the Kerrville Folk Festival.  I saw Jack and wanted to say hi, but he was in a conversation, so I hung back a bit, only to overhear, then finally join (as a listener) a fascinating conversation about the challenges of scoring for orchestras. This is something I know nothing about, and I was interested, though not entirely surprised, to find that Jack knew quite a lot about it, as did his conversation partner, who I finally realized was the legendary songwriter, Janis Ian.

Jack is a fascinating man and a longtime friend, and I look forward to introducing you to him, if you're not already acquainted.  I hope you can join us for this live interview.

Sustaining Our Spirits #21 - Jack Williams, songwriter and guitar wizard