Keller Williams is one of those artists that seems to light up the entire area around him. He really knows how to work a stage and a crowd. This magic is part of the reason that I have been seeing as many shows as I can over the past fifteen years. I have even traveled through ten different states, many times just to catch him in the act of performing. I was lucky enough to get to sit down and talk with him about his experiences at Summer Camp and his family.
“No. When I wrote it, it was a couple of years past the incident and it was always somewhat tongue and cheek. There was definitely an anger at the time in 1995 when that went down. But later on, it was more of a tongue in cheek story that went over really well in the Indiana/Midwest area amongst Deadheads. It’s always been a fun song to do, and later on it just turned into this beautiful audience participation song with a beautiful angelic chorus under these scathing horrible lyrics. Somehow it works and entertains me,” laughing Keller stated.Thanks to Dan Flaven, I was able to find this little gem and thought you all might enjoy it too! https://youtu.be/w7yjRGMs2Qk I then went on to ask a little bit about his experiences at Summer Camp. This year marks the 14th year that Keller will be joining us at Summer Camp Music Festival. He first came in 2002 and has been every year except 2008. I asked him about his reasons for coming back to the festival year after year.
“Ian Goldberg, really. He is super kind. You’re a part of the family, in the sense of being at that festival. I think that it is the connection with moe., Umphrey’s, and especially Ian Goldberg that keeps me coming back. I’m very, very grateful to be a part of that festival. I think that I have missed one since it started. It’s been a real familiar place to return to each year.” He went on to state that he felt “lucky and grateful to be a part of it.”
“Well, playing on the Umphrey’s stage with More Than A Little and Victor Wooten sitting in the whole set, was pretty epic. Victor being from Virginia and my band More Than A Little, they are all big fans of Victor Wooten. So to have him on stage was huge to me and also for them. Sometimes we will have folks sit in that the band has never really hard of, but I’ve been friends with forever. This is different. Everyone was super excited and tickled. Victor’s musicianship and showmanship, he didn’t know any of the songs but he stepped up and took control. I think that was a fantastic memory for me. Also, Jake from Umphrey’s sat in on that gig as well.”I thought I would share a little taste of Keller’s favorite Summer Camp Music Festival set as well. https://youtu.be/qLdQS_WyvlU “I don’t get to play that stage that often. I’m usually on the lower moe. stage and to get up on the meadow stage was different. Then to have Victor Wooten the whole time was definitely a very memorable experience.” Keller is known as a family man. I decided since I’m always sharing about my own family on the blog that I would ask him a few questions about his family. I asked if he would be bringing his family along to Summer Camp this year. “No, that’s a very busy time of year. If I’m lucky I will be on a couple of different festivals in a couple of different time zones that weekend. It’s just one of those weekends. It’s not conducive for children. I’m in and out. I come in Friday morning and leave before the sun comes up on Saturday morning usually.” I went on to share with Keller that I have four children and asked about his children. “I have two, a boy that’s 8 and a girl that’s 11.” I asked if he had been lucky enough to get to go to an American Girl doll store at some point with his daughter when she was younger. “I have not, but my wife has a couple of times. My daughter has definitely moved beyond that but it was definitely in her life at one time for sure. I think they even made an appointment or something.” I shared that my husband was not a fan. Keller went on, “There’s a funny Will Farrell video outside. It’s Will Farrell and he has a couple of little girls. It’s a screaming contest and whoever screams the loudest gets the doll.” I decided that I had to check out this video and I have to admit that I laughed pretty hard. You can check it out for yourself if you want, thanks to this YouTube video of the Billy on the Street segment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZPdsVAEOac&feature=youtu.be I went on to ask Keller what he enjoyed doing with his children. “Well there’s a number of family friendly festivals that are great. One that we’ve went to in the past is called the Watermelon Festival in Virginia. There’s another one that we are really excited to go back to. It’s called Floyd Fest in Floyd, Virginia. That’s a real kid friendly type of festival that’s been going on for 16 or 17 years. I’m not sure exactly how long it’s been going on. We are new to that festival. It’s exciting that my kids are really into it and are excited to go back. We are looking forward to that.” I talked briefly about my goals as the parent Camp Counselor and Keller agreed that if you want to party that it is best not to bring your kids along. I then talked to him about his “Kids” album which is a favorite of my children and mine. I asked him what the inspiration behind this album was. “I would say that the first inspiration behind that was “Not for Kids Only” by Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman. That came out in the early 90s and I didn’t have kids until 2004 when my first one was born. So there was definitely this kids music floating around since I was a big Deadhead. I was looking for anything and everything that any of the band members did while they were still around. It’s this whole record of Jerry Garcia and David Grisman that was directed towards kids, but might be like the title says not for kids only. I didn’t have kids and I definitely listened to that too. I knew that it could be done where we try and connect with children and make the parents head bob at the same time.”
