William Mylar

January 16, 2006, Placerville, CA

The Pleasant Valley Grange will hold a spaghetti feed on Saturday, Jan. 28 from 5 to 8 p.m. with all proceeds supporting the “Packages and Prayers Program” that sends packages to U.S. Troops stationed abroad.

Musical entertainment will be provided by local folk-rock legend, William Mylar... - Mountain Democrat

By Jackson Griffith (1/29/04)
Huh? Self-professed folk-wave artist William Mylar’s new album opens with a title cut that sounds like a Lou Rawls-style supper-club rave-up. Mylar’s sotto-voce Barry White vocal tags are a nice, left-field surprise. Mylar has a strong, Bryan Ferry-like voice. His band isn’t afraid to reach for exotic touches, like mandolin or vibes. The songwriting has a certain charm that grows on you. Oh, and Xenophilia’s Amy Anne takes the lead vocal on “Right On Time.” - Sacramento News & Review

by Folkcrazy (Amazon.com reviewer)7/29/03
I heard the song "I Like It That Way" on the radio. The DJ explained that the Real Mylar album was performed almost entirely by Mylar. This intrigued me.
When I got the Real Mylar CD, I listened to it. I found that I wanted to listen to it a second time and then a third. I was just amazed at how different and exciting all of the material was. There was not one bad song on the album. Each one seemed to have been crafted to stand on it's own.
There are songs that tell stories or paint pictures that take you places. The melodies are unlike anything I've ever heard before. My favorite track on this album is "Goss". It has a bit of a country feel, but also something almost like Irish folk with a little bluesy thing thrown in. How's that for different? Some of the others like "Thunder and Rain" and the Trilogy songs, "Free", "Rocky's Lament", and "Bull's Dream" are just amazing pieces about humanity. The melodies run into one another almost seamlessly like some kind of classical piece of music. "One World, One People" is such a positive and motivating song, I found myself smiling when I first heard it and each time I hear it again.
It is difficult to describe Real Mylar without listening to it. For those who are interested in real modern folk music, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. In fact I am willing to bet most people would agree with me. - Amazon.com

by Caroll Gordon 1/24/04
This review was written about a January 2004 concert which also featured San Francisco band, Pebble Theory, who opend for Mylar.

WMB started their first set with “Sweet Alibi”. The song is a definite dance number with a heavy rock and roll beat. It served its purpose as the crowd, who were bouncing in their chairs earlier, now jumped to the small and crowded space in front of the band.

I haven’t seen this incarnation of WMB before, but I know Mylar has previously performed with Glenn Hair, who was tossing off hot jazz licks all night. Hair is possibly one of the best guitarists anywhere. His leads often explode out of nowhere. His jazz playing seems to fit right into this jam band and it was interesting to see the audience riveted while the entire band traded licks and phrases on the jams that often are part of some songs, especially the blistering 15 minute jam after “Terr(or)” in the second set.

The first set, which ran 65 minutes, was filled with obvious crowd favorites from Mylar’s last two albums. New drummer, Peter Philis, amply laid down the Ska beat in “I Don’t Mind”, Mylar’s play-on- words tune. I learned that Philis, originally from the Deadbeats, just joined the band, but his obvious professional experience made it look like he’d been playing with WMB all along. I was quite impressed since Mylar often writes material with odd beats and songs that change tempo as they segue into one another.

Original WMB bass player, Jim Irion, is a busy player and tends to throw off basslicks whether they should be there or not. It seemed to me that the band is fully aware of this trait and knows when to make the most use of that quality.

Mandolin player, Ken Burnett, is one of those musicians you can see with other bands almost any night of the week in Sacramento. With WMB, you can tell he is clearly having some of his most fun. His lightning fast flutter picking fills the room with a trill that brings many of the jamming phrases to crescendo. WMB started off the second set with one of Burnett’s originals, “Cash Boyeaux”. WMB transforms this simple bluegrass tune into a powerful and hard driving rocker.

Most of the night belonged to its star, William Mylar. Once famous for his huge voice and playing his guitar, while jumping, leaping, dancing and running all over the place, he seems content now with standing off to the right side of the stage and letting his music and his fine musicians do all the talking. His rich baritone voice is still as powerful as ever. Almost always smiling, yet working intensely, you can feel soul oozing out of every pore along with the sweat on his brow. Although less animated than in the past, you can still count on Mylar to jump up and down a few times or to throw in some Townsendesque windmill sweeps on the guitar. Whether he is driving the band with his rhythms or playing lead, Mylar is the consummate showman. Where other jam bands seem to be content with spacey noodling, Mylar brings cohesion to the spontaneity. Keeping improvisations from rambling takes a mastery that only a few others could achieve. Mylar is a genius at this.

The crowd was clearly here for Mylar and I have rarely seen a more friendly, dedicated, and loyal audience. It was as if they all knew each other and came together for some sort of family reunion. I highly recommend joining the Mylar family. - Special to the Sacramento Bee