Rev KM Williams (W Trainreck and Jeff Stone)

Artist Information

Biography

The Real Deal Texas Boogie/Blues Trio! Basically a modern Texas Country Blues & Boogie Band (with a heavy Delta Blues influence) in the style similar to Blind Willie Johnson, T-Model Ford, John Lee Hooker, Hound Dog Taylor & Lightning Hopkins! Rev KM Williams, a native East Texan, is on Guitar and Diddley Bow, and is a bonafide Texas Country Bluesman whose style is rooted in the deep Blues & Boogie of Lightnin Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, RL Burnside & Blind Willie Johnson. KM also happens to be an Ordained Minister of the Gospel, so he can sermonize you while he's rockin' you too. Washboard Jackson, originally from the industrial Punk Rock influenced areas of Detroit & Toledo, is a hard working family man and talented percussionist who can play drums, washboard & cymbals all at the same time. Jeff Stone is a WC Handy award winning harp man raised on the south side of Chicago. Together, they make the most raw, rockin' Country Blues/Boogie that you really need to hear to believe. Based in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex.

Instrumentation

Jeff Stone - Harmonica
Rev KM Williams - Vocals, Guitar, diddley bow
Washboard Jackson - Drums, Percussion, b/u vocals

Discography

KM Williams: 1) Reverend of Texas Country Blues, 2000(CD BABY), 2) Texas Country Blues Preacher, 2001 (CD BABY), 3) Sanctified Boogie, 2001 (CD BABY), 4) The Return of Brother Lemon, 2002 (CD BABY), 5) Blind Willie's Hymns, 2002 (CD BABY), 6) I'm an OLD Soul, 2003 (CD Baby), 7) The Minister of Texas Boogie, 2004 (CD BABY),8)KM Williams-Country Roads, Street Corners & Churchhouses (2004), 9) KM Williams-Truth Music (2005), 10) KM Wiliams-Live in Italy (2005) CD/DVD, 11) KM Williams-The Resurrection of Blind Willie and Old Time Spirituals (2006), 12) KM Williams-Here Comes the Preacher Man (2006), 13) KM Williams/Trainreck - Live Wreckage and Classics (2007), 14) KM Williams-The lost Tapes of Jukes and Spirituals (2007), 15) KM Williams- Live At THe Longhorn BBQ (2007), 16) CRIES FROM THE SOUL (2008), 17) THE BOOGIE REVEREND (2008) and 18) TEXAS MISSISSIPPI BLUES SPIRITUALS (2008). Has also formed a Rockin' Boogie/Blues duo with Texas Washboard Player and Percussionist WASHBOARD JACKSON called "TRAINRECK" and has since released four critically acclaimed CD's: 1) "THERE'S A TRAINRECK COMIN' (2003), 2) "THE TRAIN KEEPS A' ROLLIN' (2004), 3) "LIVE AT THE SCENE" (2005) and 4) "11:59" (2006). All releases have samples and streams available at The CD BABY Records website.

Links

• Facebook
• KM Williams CD Baby CD/MP3 Site
• MySpace
• The Texas Country Blues Preacher YOUTUBE Videos
• Twitter
• Last.fm
• KM Williams ReverbNation site
• Jeff Stone Blues
• Trainreck Blues

Audio

• Tell The Truth
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• Let's Cut Some Wood
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• How Long You Gonna Break My Heart
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• I Need Your Love
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• You Got To Move(When The Lord Gets Ready)
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Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• KM Williams [+ Show ]
  

  This artist, who first received an early guitar lesson from Elmore James at the age of seven, has pe...This artist, who first received an early guitar lesson from Elmore James at the age of seven, has performed at various clubs,coffeehouses & Festivals around North & Central Texas & opened for such International Blues Artists as Kim Wilson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Andrew “Junior Boy” Jones & Little Milton. KM wrote all the songs himself; after receiving divine inspiration when the great Bluesman John Lee Hooker passed away earlier in 2001. If you like Country Blues & Boogie like John Lee Hooker; Elmore James Or R.L. Burnside, you’ll love KM Williams! SOUTHWEST BLUES MAGAZINE – “…Williams has this wonderful intensity that permeates his work. There is this omnipotent spiritual texture that engulfs the tunes. It is impossible not to pick up that Country Blues Gospel vibe throughout the tracks. Williams is steeped in it; it's the fuel that that feeds his fire. Best way I can describe it: it's that electric thrill you get listening to an energized, fire in the belly, Servant of God delivering one of those stand up and shout Hallelujah Salvation sermons. It gets under your skin and stays there. Something about his playing; something about his voice; something about the combination of the two. The man has a gift…Check out "Sanctified Boogie" for an excellent introduction to KM Williams' world. There are several tracks that I won't soon forget. Try the haunting "I'm A Soldier" or the mesmerizing "Boogie Child" and I think you can smell what the rock is cooking. Another standout performance on the song "Not By Works, But By Grace" really drives home the point. This is a great listen from beginning to end and Williams shows us some fascinating texture along the path. It will be very interesting to see where the road takes us next. An excellent follow-up from an excellent performer.” --- BILL FOUNTAIN, SOUTHWEST BLUES MAGAZINE , January 2002.
  

• Trainreck press [+ Show ]
  

  Reviewer: Shreds And Patches Here's something a bit different that some of you will like a lot. Tra...Reviewer: Shreds And Patches
  Here's something a bit different that some of you will like a lot. Trainreck is a blues duo from Texas with K M Williams on guitar and vocals and Washboard Jackson on percussion. Following in one great tradition of bluesmen, K M Williams is a "country blues preacher". He is a genuine ordained minister whose previous five CDs appear to have been predominantly spirituals and gospel songs. Many of the tracks on this CD have more secular themes but it still has the best of that "preachy" style of honest, heartfelt emotion. He plays an amplified National Steel with a sparse intensity that reminds me of lots of those raw country blues from the early days of recording. There a bit of Lightnin' Hopkins here, a bit of Blind Lemon there. There's echoes of people like John Lee Hooker and, particularly, Willie Johnson. The slide adds that extra haunting quality at times to the inescapable drive of the rhythm. And then there's the percussion..... When I first heard the MP3s on the internet I didn't really notice the percussion but when I got the CD, I thought "Woah, what're YOU doing?" Washboard Jackson plays washboard (you guessed?) and that's fine but he also kicks a bass-drum and hits snare and cymbals with the thimbles on his fingers. The result is a very basic thumping sound that, at first, seemed entirely wrong with the classic blues groove. However, after a very short while, I began to accept it and soon began to think that it's the percussion that lifts these tracks onto a new level. What might otherwise sound like "just another" bluesman (even though he’s very good) suddenly sounds amazingly distinctive. Suddenly you realise that this combination holds your attention; you listen to the words through this rhythmic melange and the whole thing makes sense. You hear what the blues is *really* about - just like when you first heard "Dark Was The Night". I am pleased to tell you, folks, that real country blues is not dead, it's alive and kicking in North Texas. Chris (Yorkie) Bartram
  BLUES-N-CO -
  Trainreck is Extraordinary! Ain't no other way to say it!With merely nothing,just their talent and their axes(harp & guitar for K.M.;Washboard,cymbals,bass drum and snare drum for Washboard)they get you out a blues so rich and powerful and unbelievably emotion loaded,a blues coming from the delta-between Mississippi and Texas,which keeps alive the tradition from illustrious masters such as Lightnin' Hopkins,R. L. Burnside,John Lee Hooker or Blind Willie Johnson.Listening to this CD you'll get trapped by the fascinating rhythms,voodooed by the vehement sing,you'll take off with the tempo. On the streets of today's Dallas;Trainreck Plays AUTHENTIC Blues in its most sincere and unpretentious form.This is what Blues Sounds like when it's not used to sell underwear,pickup trucks or macaroni and cheese.Real Blues,at its noblest,is elevating to the spirit, an affirmation - but it stands also as an invocation of real pathos,born of human sufferings and privations,the slings and arrows of outrageous human circumstance.
  
  When the Blues gets this REAL,when it is no longer standard garden fare,or merely a reflection of the peer community,finding a polite home can be difficult. It is a certain musical "homelessness" which characterizes Trainreck:these guys aren't the house band at your uncle's favorite "blues bar" - these guys are the malcontents,the minstrelsy loitering outside the walls of the Bastille.They are more at home in the grassroots arena of the streets of Deep Ellum than in your daddy's sports bar.And Who are these audacious conspirators?
  
  The Engineer of the Trainreck is KM Williams, a great American Bluesman;he offers up a greasy,overdriven gut-bucket tone under the unflinching demands of his guitar work,laying down hypnotic trudging grooves,house rockin blowouts, and back-country spirituals of yesteryear,all rendered forth with a dark signature treatment.
  
  His accomplice is Washboard Jackson - a seasoned and travelled street busker and percussionist,playing a precarious trap kit in simultaneous combination with a washboard astride his lap, striking and flourishing with only his thimble- bedecked fingers in lieu of drumsticks. The stunning, singular result is driving and relevant. Together they are unmistakable heirs to the REAL blues - Casper Shines

• KM WILLIAMS- THE REVEREND OF TEXAS COUNTRY BLUES [+ Show ]
  

  The True Reverend of Texas Country Blues, April 5th, 2006, 10:15 AM Reviewer: Anonymous The Tit...The True Reverend of Texas Country Blues, April 5th, 2006, 10:15 AM
  Reviewer: Anonymous
  The Title doesn't lie! this True Texas/Mississippi Country Blues like Blind Lemon and Robert Johnson as if it came right out of the 1920's and 30's,mixed with Blind Willie Johnson-like Spirituals ,but made in the 21st Century. A Modern classic that sounds like it was made in the 30's.
  
  

• Trainreck: Truth in Advertising, 2009 SXSW [+ Show ]
  

  Reverend K.M. Williams and Washboard Jackson bash out the blues. North Mississippi has n...
  
  Reverend K.M. Williams and Washboard Jackson bash out the blues.
  
  
  North Mississippi has no lock on the droning/bash it out deep blues. Dallas-based Reverend K.K. Williams & the Amazing Trainreck (no w), a most prolific duo of Williams (various guitars including a one-string cigar box model) and drummer/percussionist Washboard Jackson do their best to beat up the blues.
  
  Wednesday night at The Ranch, Williams, Jackson and the stage crew spent lots of time between songs fixing things onstage.
  
  "It happens every gig," the sharply dressed Williams said. "We break something. That's why we're called Trainreck."
  
  Blind Lemon Jefferson would probably have been only marginally mortified by Trainreck's blues.
  
  
  
  
  

• TRAINRECK [+ Show ]
  

  Genre: Blues Sound description: Rockin' boogie and blues duo Formed: 2002 City: Dallas, TX ...Genre: Blues
  
  Sound description: Rockin' boogie and blues duo
  
  Formed: 2002
  
  City: Dallas, TX
  
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  MySpace CD Baby K.M. Williams Trainreck is a two-piece alternative blues duo. The music hits you hard and leaves you wanting more. On all three of Trainreck's feature length CDs you'll hear familiar new and classic sounds produced in ways you never thought possible. Since the inception of Trainreck in 2002, the duo has nitched a small but respectable cult following around the globe.
  
  The band consists of K.M. Williams and Washboard Jackson. K.M. is the engineer of the train, steering it on and off the tracks...You never know where he'll take you next. Williams handles guitar, harmonica and vocals, and writes most of the lyrics. Washboard is the fireman. He feeds the engine with fuel for the soul...his rhythms wont let you forget you are alive. Jackson plays percussion (drums, washboard, etc.) and writes some of the lyrics.
  
  Trainreck's musical attack will leave you amazed. WARNING! After you buy your first Trainreck music, before you pop it in and give it the initial spin....................Get up and BAR THE DOOR!
  
  Information from the band's site
  
  MusiciansK.M. Williams: guitar, harmonica, lead vocals, vocals Washboard Jackson: drums, percussion, washboard

• THE MINISTER OF TEXAS BOOGIE [+ Show ]
  

  When John Lee Hooker and Henry Qualls passed on;some said that was the last of the great Boogie men....When John Lee Hooker and Henry Qualls passed on;some said that was the last of the great Boogie men. But it looks like a new one has stepped in to carry the torch into the 21th century;His name is KM Williams,a Texas Born and bred,ordained Minister who also answered a calling to play the Country Blues in addition to his ministry(Not unlike his forebears Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton;KM is in the line of great Country bluesmen like them). This CD is a Testament to music that speaks to the soul and to the foot;plain and simple.With just a soulful voice;raw,gutbucket Boogie/Country blues guitar work and footstompin in the style of old John Lee Hooker will get your feet pattin',your ears tinglin and your soul satisfied!!! - A Fan!! This CD is dedicated to the late ,great,Texas Country Bluesman Henry Qualls,who passed away in December,2003. - KM Williams
  
  Average Customer Review:

• KM Williams on the 2-String Diddley Bow w/ Washboard Jackson [+ Show ]
  

  There just aren't enough bloggers here on OS who are too lazy to write well yet too proud to put up ...There just aren't enough bloggers here on OS who are too lazy to write well yet too proud to put up the shoddy stuff, who spend far too much time lurking in the shadowy recesses of their local curling rink, and who try to compensate for these failings by posting great music instead. I suspect I am the only one.
  
  Today we get the Rev. KM Williams and Washboard Jackson, of the 2-man band Trainreck, during the 2008 Arkansas Blues and Heritage festival. The Arkansas Times said: "A guy playing an electrified diddley bow, a simple instrument comprised of a stick, a cigar box and two strings from which he ripped a blues funk, drew a crowd of dozens."
  
  

Setlist

Our normal sets are AT LEAST 1hr long,we have been known to play for hours without stopping;but can play a short set(Less than an hr) if required.Our normalset consist of original KM Williams/Trainreck Blues and Boogie Songs,Spirituals and covers of John Lee Hooker,RL Burnside,Robert Johnson,Blind Willie Johnson, Charlie Patton,Elmore James,Jimmmy Reed & Lightnin Hopkins

Basic Requirements

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