THE ALL-COVERS ALBUM, RECORDED WITH LARRY AND JENNY KEEL, OFFERS KELLER VERSIONS
OF SONGS BY AMY WINEHOUSE, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, RYAN ADAMS
YMSB, PATTERSON HOOD, THE RACONTEURS, DANNY BARNES AND MANY OTHERS
LOOK FOR KELLER ON TOUR THIS SUMMER, INCLUDING SELECT DATES AS PART OF RHYTHM DEVILS
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Keller Williams releases his first-ever all-covers collection, amusingly titled Thief, on May 25, 2010. Recorded with The Keels husband and wife duo Larry and Jenny Keel Thief includes songs originally written and recorded by as wildly diverse an assemblage as anyone's ever likely to dream up.
Keller is on tour this summer - at solo shows, with The Keels, and even for a run of gigs as vocalist/guitarist in The Rhythm Devils, the project by Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and his partner percussionist Mickey Hart. Keller's complete list of currently confirmed tour dates is included below.
Thief offers up Keller-versions of songs by an (almost) unthinkable collection of artists: from Amy Winehouse ("Rehab") to the Grateful Dead ("Mountains of the Moon"), the Butthole Surfers ("Pepper") to Kris Kristofferson ("Don't Cuss That Fiddle," which opens the album, and “The Year 2003 Minus 25," which closes the album). The set is filled out with tunes by Ryan Adams, the Presidents of the United States of America, The Raconteurs, Patterson Hood, Danny Barnes, Cracker, Yonder Mountain String Band and Marcy Playground. All over the place, indeed, but that's the way Williams likes it. And in his hands it all makes sense like everything he's ever touched, whether from his own pen or someone else's, it all becomes Keller Williams' music.
Keller's thirst for music of all kinds has also led him to the world of radio. For the past seven years he has hosted Keller's Cellar, a weekly syndicated program available on over 40 terrestrial stations and online at /www.kellerwilliams.net. Williams describes the show as “a self-indulgent, hour-long narrated mix tape of stuff I'm into. It's rule-less except for what the FCC says we can't do. I don't play contemporary country music. I don't play contemporary Christian music however, there is possibly some old gospel. I don't play opera. Everything else is fair game. World music from all around African music from all the countries, jazz, funk, reggae, techno, chill, lounge, lounge singers, rub-a-dub, dancehall. I pretty much stay away from smooth jazz. It's definitely a fun outlet for me."
Long considered one of the most unique and prolific performers in all of rock, the Fredericksburg, Virginia native is known for flying by the seat of his pants onstage, utilizing an unorthodox approach that centers around an Echoplex Digital Pro looping unit, which allows Keller to alternate between several instruments on stage.
