Vern Williams Band – Traditional Bluegrass
Laurie Lewis remembers Vern Williams’ approach to singing. He said, “You’ve got to spill your guts onstage. Then you’ve got to walk around in them.”
For California baby boomers in the bluegrass scene, Williams and Ray Park were, in Lewis’ words, “the source.” The two men came from the same Arkansas county but never met until they moved to California in the 1950s. They performed together as Vern & Ray between 1958 and 1974. During that time, they gave Bay Area bluegrassers an ongoing tutorial in authenticity.
Here were two southerners from the first bluegrass generation who brought their own history and musical instincts to the genre. While most California bluegrass bands were imitating what they’d learned from Bill Monroe and Stanley Brothers records, Vern & Ray were adding new numbers to the collection of bluegrass standards.
Much as Monroe did, they played country and folk songs in the emerging bluegrass style. That’s how the Stephen Foster song (with roots in an English art song) “Little Annie” became a popular west coast festival tune.
California musicians from Herb Pederson (who played with Vern & Ray) to High Country’s Butch Waller say they were influenced and inspired by the duo. Despite the profound cultural differences between Berkeley bluegrass and Arkansas acoustic music, the older men were always willing to jam with the young locals.
Williams started the Vern Williams Band shortly after he and Park dissolved Vern & Ray. Playing with Williams were Keith Little, Ed Neff, Kevin Thompson, and Williams’ son Delbert. Traditional Bluegrass is a collection of live performances recorded on two-track tapes between 1982 and 1988.
This is hard-core stuff, and it’s bursting with vitality. The energy in every cut, from the agonizingly mournful “Close By” to the joyous “Pig In A Pen”, is a stark reminder of what’s been lost in today’s polished studio performances. And yet, while raw, it’s tremendously musical. Williams’ emphasis was on the vocals, not the instrumental breaks. The result is satisfying, but not overpowering, fiddle and mandolin leads. Little’s banjo bridges the gap between traditional drive and contemporary tastefulness.