Biography

Josh Williams
Down Home
Street Date: March 15, 2011

1. Lonesome Feeling 3:10
2. Dream of Me 3:31
3. Cherokee Shuffle 3:39
4. Blue Water 3:33
5. Streets of Bakersfield 2:30
6. We’ll Burn that Bridge 2:57
7. Blue Railroad Train 3:17
8. Down Home 4:18
9. Stealin’ Away 2:24
10. Kodak 1955 3:26
11. Polka on the Banjo 2:42
12. The Last Song 2:40



UPC number 0-11661-0661-2-0

(p) & © 2011 Rounder Records. Manufactured and distributed by Concord Music Group, Inc., 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. Printed in the U.S.A. www.rounder.com; info@rounder.com


Booklet:

1. Lonesome Feeling
Billy Henson - Sure Fire Music, Inc. BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead vocal,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass, harmony vocal,
Kenny Ingram: banjo,
Randy Kohrs: resophonic guitar,
Jason Carter: fiddle,
Tony Creasman: percussion,
Rhonda Vincent: harmony vocal

2. Dream of Me
Murray F. Cannon – Universal Sawgrass Music
Publishers - BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead and harmony vocals, Mickey Harris: acoustic bass,
Aaron McDaris: banjo,
Jason Carter: fiddle,
Tim Dishman: harmony vocal

3. Cherokee Shuffle
Tommy Jackson – Sony ATV Acuff Rose Music - BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, banjo,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass,
Stuart Duncan: fiddle

4. Blue Water
Michael Ballew – Phooey Publishing Co. BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead and harmony vocals, Tim Dishman: acoustic bass, harmony vocal,
Greg Cahill: banjo,
Stuart Duncan: fiddle

5. Streets of Bakersfield
Homer J. Joy – Sony ATV Tree Publishing Co. - BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead vocal,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass, harmony vocal,
Kenny Ingram: banjo, Jason Carter: fiddle,
Doug Jernigan: pedal steel guitar

6. We’ll Burn That Bridge
Tom T. Hall, Dixie Hall – Good Home Grown
Music - BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead vocal,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass,
Aaron McDaris: banjo,
Darrin Vincent - harmony vocal,
Jamie Dailey - harmony vocal

7. Blue Railroad Train
featuring Tony Rice
Alton Delmore – Unichappell Music, Inc. BMI, Rabon Delmore – Vidor Publications, Inc. BMI
Josh Williams: mandolin, lead vocal,
Tony Rice: guitar,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass,
Randy Kohrs: resophonic guitar

8. Down Home
Carl Jackson, Polygram International Publishing ASCAP, Sylvia Rutledge, Sharayah Music, Universal
Music Publishing ASCAP
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead and harmony vocals, Mickey Harris: acoustic bass,
Randy Kohrs: metal body slide guitar,
Stuart Duncan: fiddle,
Doug Jernigan: pedal steel guitar,
Tony Creasman: percussion,
Carl Jackson: harmony vocal,
Tina Adair: harmony vocal

9. Stealin’ Away
Darren Wilcox- New Turquoise Music - BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead and harmony vocals, Tim Dishman: acoustic bass, harmony vocal,
Greg Cahill: banjo,
Doug Jernigan: pedal steel guitar,
Tony Creasman: percussion

10. Kodak 1955
Steven Paul Spurgeon - Bums Rush Music BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, mandolin, lead vocal,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass, harmony vocal,
Randy Kohrs: Hawaiian slide guitar,
Stuart Duncan: fiddle,
Tony Creasman: percussion,
Rhonda Vincent: harmony vocal

11. Polka on the Banjo
Daniel Leon Luallen, Richard Tillman, George N. Williams - Sure Fire Music Company, Inc., BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, lead vocal
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass, harmony vocal
Kenny Ingram: banjo
Tony Creasman: percussion
Rhonda Vincent: harmony vocal

12. The Last Song
Jimmy Martin, L.E. White – Road Runner
Music - BMI
Josh Williams: guitar, lead vocal,
Mickey Harris: acoustic bass,
Kenny Ingram: banjo,
Jason Carter: fiddle,
Greg Blaylock: resophonic guitar,
Tony Creasman: percussion



Tom Executive Producer Josh Williams Produced by Riggs
Top Dog Studios, Franklin, TN and Burns Station Recorded at Kurt Paula Wolak and Kurt Storey Mixed by Sound, Burns, TN Engineered by
Kurt Storey at Storey and Josh Williams at Burns Station Sound
Mastered by Paul Blakemore at Concord Music Group, Cleveland, OH

Photography Michael Witcher Project Burns Station Sound Design Tammy Windham Coordinator

Guest Artists appearing courtesy of Rounder Records: Tony Rice, Rhonda Vincent, Dailey & Vincent, Stuart Duncan, Jason Carter. Randy Kohrs appears courtesy of Rural Rhythm Records

Josh Williams proudly uses and endorses Kendrick Custom Guitars, GHS strings, Gilchrist mandolins, Deering banjos, Bluechip picks, Gibson mandolins, and AWSI Professional Cases



A spontaneous cheer of surprise and delight erupted in the Ryman Auditorium that night. The event was the 21st annual International Bluegrass Music Awards ceremony. The occasion was the announcement that the Emerging Artist of the Year trophy had been won by The Josh Williams Band.

The honoree seemed as surprised and delighted as the rest of the capacity crowd in Nashville’s most historic hall. The Josh Williams Band was the only one of the nominees that did not have a current recording. In fact, Josh hasn’t had a new record on the marketplace for more than five years.

“Oh my gosh, I love you guys so much,” he exclaimed as he took the stage.” He choked back tears, then stammered, “I can’t tell you what this means to me. This is truly a dream come true for us.”

Josh comments, “It was a surprise to everybody, simply because it’s unusual to have a band up there in the nominations that hasn’t had a recording. So it’s just based on our live performances...I guess we have a pretty good buzz going on about what we’re doing.”

That no-disc situation has now been rectified. Josh’s Down Home CD is the masterpiece record he has been working his way toward all his life. With songs from the repertoires of Jimmy Martin, Tom T. Hall, Carl Jackson, Vern Gosdin, Flatt & Scruggs, The Special Consensus, Buck Owens, Tommy Jackson and The Delmore Brothers, this is a banquet of composing craftsmanship. And with a stellar supporting cast that includes Stuart Duncan, Rhonda Vincent, Randy Kohrs, Tony Rice, Dailey & Vincent, Doug Jernigan, Jason Carter, Carl Jackson and Greg Cahill, this is a feast of virtuoso performances.

“The coolest thing about doing this for so long - over 20 years – is that I’ve been able to meet these people over time and gained their respect. I’ve worked very hard on my musicianship as well as my singing. I was just able to make certain phone calls.”

Wait a minute. “Doing this for so long?” He made this album when he was 28 years old.

Therein might lie one of the secrets behind his “surprise” win. The people in that IBMA audience have literally watched Josh Williams grow up. He first appeared on the IBMA stage at the age of 12 as part of “The Bluegrass Youth All-Stars.” And his involvement in bluegrass music actually goes back even further than that.

The Kentucky native learned to play the ukulele when he was only five years old. He began playing piano at age seven and picked up the banjo the year after that. He started teaching himself guitar and mandolin at age nine. Josh made his first record – a homemade banjo project – when he was 10.

“I fell in love with music at an early age,” he understates. “Dad would have jam sessions at the house. He said when I was a baby, I would crawl up and put my hand on his guitar when he was playing. My grandmother got my wheels rolling by teaching me the ukulele when I was five.

“Singing and learning harmony parts came very naturally to me. I was raised in the Church of Christ [which prohibits musical instruments in its sanctuaries], so we always had a cappella singers. I could hear those harmony parts even before I could read any shape notes or regular music.”

The homemade childhood recording led to an appearance on the kid TV channel Nickelodeon when he was 12. He joined his first band, Josh Williams & High Gear, that same year. After his IBMA appearance in “The Bluegrass Youth All-Stars,” New Haven Records signed him to make an album as a member of “The Young Acoustic All-Stars.” The ensemble performed for a season doing 18 shows a week at Nashville’s C.F. Martin Theatre in Opryland USA.

When Josh Williams & High Gear opened for The Nashville Bluegrass Band at Nashville’s Station Inn club, it led to a recording contract with Copper Creek Records. He was all of 13 when he recorded his debut disc for the label. A second CD for the company was issued when he was 17.

He continued to perform in Josh Williams & High Gear until he graduated from high school. Then he accepted a job playing mandolin and fiddle in The Special Consensus in 1999.

“I didn’t really see it as a step backward,” Josh comments. “Even though I had ‘my own’ band, I was in no way in charge of that. I was a kid. My name was out front only because of that whole ‘child-prodigy’ thing. What I saw when Greg [Cahill] offered me the job in Special C was the opportunity to be in a prominent nationally touring band. I knew what I needed to learn. I wanted to go on the road and learn how to do this myself, eventually.

“Playing and singing is the easy part. It’s learning how to travel, knowing what to say on stage, knowing how to put on a show. Plus, there was just a lot of natural, growing-up things that I needed to go through.”

To Greg Cahill and his fellow musicians’ credit, they never treated Josh Williams as a boy. Josh reports that he was always dealt with as an equal. In addition, Greg encouraged Josh to continue to record on his own.

As a result, Josh signed with Pinecastle Records. His first collection for the company appeared in 2001.

“I think that cover photo was one of my high-school, senior-class pictures that my mother had,” he notes wryly.

Josh joined Rhonda Vincent & The Rage in 2003. This upped his bluegrass profile considerably. Rhonda, too, encouraged his solo artistic development.

His second Pinecastle CD was released in 2005. He began work on Down Home as his third for the label in late 2006, but the project took more than two years to complete. In the meantime, he left Rhonda’s employ in 2007 and formed The Josh Williams Band in 2008.

“I had more confidence in myself by then. In fact, when the second record came up, I asked if I could produce it myself. They said, ‘Not yet.’ I wasn’t ready for it anyway: Everything works out the way it’s supposed to. When this record came up, I knew which musical direction I wanted to go. I just told them, straight up, ‘I want to produce this one.’ This time, they were OK with it.”

Down Home was originally set for release in February 2009. But due to the Pinecastle owner’s health issues, the label was forced to suspend operations that same month. The Josh Williams Band pressed on, gradually increasing the size and prestige of the bluegrass festivals it played.

The IBMA’s members stayed with him. Josh was voted Guitarist of the Year in both 2008 and 2009.

“This is a really big deal for me,” he said when he again won the Guitarist of the Year honor in 2010. “It’s so cool to be nominated with these other guys, because I can remember sitting out there dreaming of being one of them. This has been a great year.”

One reason for that is that Rounder Records admired his talent and reached out to him. The label bought the orphaned Down Home songs, and now, finally, the “lost” record has been found.

“It was quite a shock when I found out that it was not going to get released, but it all worked out,” says Josh Williams. “I couldn’t be happier. Like I said, ‘Everything works out the way it’s supposed to.’”