Karl S. Williams

“Karl S. Williams, for me, has delivered one of the great Aussie albums this year – every track is a knockout – an astonishing debut that has HUGE FUTURE written all over it – I love discovering artists who have that special IT – the Zeitgeist – watch out for Karl!” — Peter Noble, Festival Director - Bluesfest 2015

Hello, my name is Karl S. Williams and I have laboured over this biography because I don’t want you to think that I’m tooting my own horn, and yet I also do want to toot it just enough that you’ll see I take this all very seriously. In fact, it’s a matter of life and death for me and death is nothing to be trifled with. I’d feel ashamed if anyone else wrote it, because a vital part of my music is the realness (or goddamn reckless honesty).

I grew up in a nowhere rural river town in Northern New South Wales and somewhere between the flooded cane fields and deep forests I came to identify with the people and music of the southern United States. Most importantly it was the blues of the Mississippi delta that called to me, but also spirituals and country gospel as well as Appalachian banjo tunes and swampy soul. That music is so unadorned and yet so beautiful because for me it encapsulates the essential human spirit.

You see, I have this notion of a universal soul; it’s the essence that unites all of us. Fractious though we are, there is a common thread by which we’re bound and if I can make music that tugs on it, just a little, then we get to transcend all of the unessential things for a moment and dwell in the heart of something greater. It’s that essence I’m pursuing with every song and every performance and it seems I’ve been lucky enough to hit close to the mark for all kinds of people.

It took a lot of years of grinding before I got my own songs down on tape, so to speak. I had my share of troubles and they might have got the better of me if I hadn’t had music. So it was a cathartic event to cut off a few bad limbs and get into the studio for my first album Heartwood, released on the Footstomp label in 2014. Noel Mengel from The Courier Mail said it “...is so good it might even save your life”. Well, it certainly did mine and by that grace I am bound to pursuing the song for the rest of my days, about which I am boundlessly happy.

Since the release of Heartwood I have played my songs for folks all over Australia, including much lauded appearances at a number of music festivals including A Festival Called Panama (TAS), Blues In Bridgetown (WA), Queenscliff Music Festival (VIC), Woodford Folk Festival (QLD), Big Pineapple Festival (QLD) and Festival Of The Sun (NSW). I have supported such national treasures as Tex Perkins, Busby Marou, Darren Middleton and Matt McHugh. I even travelled as far as New York City and played at CMJ Music Marathon where I regaled the good people from the college radio world with my sound and I think I moved a few hearts too.

This road is infinitely wide and without direction but the song is calling and I will shortly begin work on my second album. I promise to pursue that essence I spoke of earlier until the end of my days, because I can do no other thing.