Will Thomas
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Will Thomas

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Band Rock Singer/Songwriter

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"Noted English rock critic"

"Great Southern rock and roll in its traditional form," says former Domino Bobby Whitlock, and anyone in search of downhome whiteboy Muscle Shoals rock'n'soul in a Donnie Fritts/Travis Wammack bag need look no further. Produced by former Eddie Hinton mentor Johnny Wyker and aided'n'abetted by local legends like Spooner Oldham and Wayne Perkins, Thomas here tears down the roadhouse on a storming southern rocker that 30 years ago woulda given the Allmans a run for their money. - Barney Hoskyns - Rock's Back Pages/England


"Jazz Fusion Live Party no Southern Rock lover should be without"

In the music world there are so many cliches it's downright obnoxious if you're one of us non-mainstreamers who knows better. When it comes to Southern Rock I think it's time we gave the old school a break, with continued respects, but allow some new blood to continue the tradition and add their names to the history book.

Listening now to " Will Thomas - Live In Copenhagen " for the umpteenth time, I sure know where my vote goes. This epitome of Southern Rock moves me like nothing I've heard in ages. Searing guitars, horns, piano, and a geyser hot rhythm section compliment Will's emotion grit vocals thru this showcase of his fine original music, and one cover.

This is a damn near Jazz Fusion Live Party no Southern Rock lover should be without. Behind the beat you'll find Sequoia Tree deep global roots. From a Swedish fan, to Mexican food in Denmark. From a group of the finest musicians in Scandinavia, to the King of Roots Music, DJ Ray Pieters of Belgium. From Italy, Alabama, to The Lone Star State Of Texas. Invoking the title " Global Southern Rock " to Will Thomas is my conclusion. - Eddie Russell - Country Eastern / Outlaw For Peace / Rainbow Smoke Network


"Swedish Newspaper"

Young Southern man who sings country & rock'n'roll just like time had stood still for thirty years. "Alabama Day" is sympathetic, just like one of those albums one bought & loved just because they were recorded by the right people in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The record's produced together with Johnny Wyker, the man who once took care of Eddie Hinton. Among the musicians you'll find Wayne Perkins & Spooner Oldham. "Sleep Doctor" is one of the best rock songs I've heard in a long time & the version of "Let Love Come Between Us", the song Wyker wrote for James & Bobby Purify is also real good.
Order the CD without hesitation.

- Lennart Persson "Best Right Now"


"Allman Bros./Rolling Stones keyboardist"

Will Thomas is the Real Deal - Chuck Leavell


"Derek & the Dominos keyboardist"

Great Southern rock and roll in its traditional form - Bobby Whitlock


"Italian CD house"

Da una piccola indipendente dell�Alabama, presentiamo un giovane cantautore destinato a rinverdire i fasti del grande southern rock. Tracce, e non poche, di Allman Brothers, Eddie Hinton, Skynyrd e Muscle Shoals soul sound per un personaggio esplosivo in quest�ambito. Un segreto da scoprire!!
- Will Thomas - Alabama Day (nuovo album feat Spooner Oldham, Wayne Perkins e i session-men dei Muscle Shoals studio. Imperdibile per i cultori del southern-rock!!!)
- Will Thomas - I Will Not Look Like Them (Primo album del cantautore destinato a rinnovare i fasti del southern-rock d�autore. Per chi ama Allman, Skynyrd, Hinton.....!!!! Formazione come sopra!!!) - Franco Ratti - IRD


"Album review"

Prepare yourselves to meet the next Big Man on Campus: Mr. Will Thomas. With two knock-out CDs "I Will Not Look Like Them" and "Alabama Day", The Big Fella has made a stand as a representative for a new generation of Southern-born gentlemen and powerhouse musicians. His songs are versatile enough to grind the gravel under your boots at one moment and then still leave space for a respectful, considerate "Maybe-you're-right-after-all" humbleness. Best of all, Will's songs make things happen: they can push the broom when the cleaning needs to be done and then leave room for the flowers to grow. Steady and sure, this music holds up like cement: you know it's solid, especially when the friends behind him are all-star heroes from down yonder. We're talking five-star material, folks--you're gonna be pleased to meet and hear Good Will Playing.
Two excellent CD's I Will Not Look Like Them & Alabama Day are now under your belt: how does it feel to be heading up the ladder with these releases getting such great attention?
First of all, thanks for saying they're excellent. It's a lot of fun. I get emails every day from all over the world through DJ's who are playing songs from both albums. Sales are going very well with fans writing that they're sending my links to friends and so on...I'm finding the response to the two cds is bigger than the response to one cd X 2, you know what I mean? Folks seem to take notice when they see that there's more depth than maybe just a one-time project.
So, whom can we thank as a teacher/tutor for your presence as a musician--the artists who influenced you? When did you know that this was your calling?
Johnny Wyker www.wyker.com is the man responsible. He's a legendary songwriter/performer-turned producer from my hometown of Decatur, Alabama who was kind enough to listen to a few songs I had written a couple of years ago. He heard some things he liked and some things he knew he could help me with, so we went into a studio outside Decatur called Birdland www.birdlandstudios.com and put some songs down. It grew from there into the first record, I Will Not Look Like Them. He put together a band like you wouldn't believe to back me up. I didn't think we could get a better group until I saw who he had in store for Alabama Day! It's all the same guys from the first album with some additions including Spooner Oldham and Kelvin Holly. The thing is that Wyker knows EVERYBODY in the Southern Soul/Muscle Shoals world, which is almost the whole world of music as far as I'm concerned. And everybody knows and loves Wyker enough to show up when he says he's got something good happening. - Gritz Magazine


"Australian Rock magazine"

A guy called John D. Wyker looms large down North Alabama way. Since the glory days of the Muscle Shoals sound he has hung in there maintaining his 'Mighty Field of Vision' as the logo goes - keepin' alive the good 'thangs' 'bout this sometimes sleepy part of the world. Look at old (or new) Eddie Hinton/Delbert McClinton albums you'll find his name as spiritual adviser/song writer or producer. Young Will Thomas is his latest project and this is the second result of Will coming down to Bama-land and meeting with Wyker's buddies such as Spooner Oldham, Wayne Perkins and Kelvin Holly (Amazing Rhythm Aces/Little Richard Band). The result is an album at the crossroads of singer/song writer, southern rock and R&B. They don't make 'em like this any more folks. There are lashings of that southern guitar sound, Hammond, sax, back porch lyrics and laid back soulful grooves. Thomas sings in an impassioned gritty fashion and his lyrics show a sensitivity beyond the jingoistic. The title track is an impressionistic ode to the place that gave birth and raised so many musical legends, while the Wyker/Thomas composition Be Thankful is a musical praise for the time and place these guys still have to go about their business - simple and effective.
Waffle House themes a commonplace tale in an everyday place, one of the 24 hour hot griddle kitchens that are found everywhere in the south, and the people who inhabit them. There is a lot more depth to investigate on this honest slab of southern sound, find out more from http://www.willthomas.com/ - Keith Glass - Rhythms Magazine


"German Rock Magazine"

Das Leben als Rock'n'Roll-Fan ist doch wunderbar. Was k?rt es einen schon, da?man tausende von Mark in lauwarme Newcomer oder abgestandene Altrocker investiert. Zwischendurch und ?raschend kommen einem immer wieder echte Perlen unter den Laser.
Der aus Alabama stammende S?er und Songwriter Will Thomas ist so eine positive ?erraschung. Ein junger aber gestandener S?aatler, dessen beide CD's ich (mal wieder) bei CD-Baby entdeckt habe.
Will Thomas erfindet keinen neuen Sound. Aber wer braucht das schon? Dem traditionsbewu?en H? reicht eine vern?ige und, in diesem Fall, gr?nteils hochspannende Neufassung sch? Southern-Musik. Will macht eine niemals l?ende, daf?ehr groovige Mischung aus typischem S?aaten-Rock ala Allman Brothers, gew? mit etwas Country (Rock), ein wenig Jazz, viel Blues und einige Folk-Prisen.
Beide CD's sind von Thomas selbst produziert und bis auf 3 Titel hat er auch alles selbst verfasst.
Will singt ausgesprochen angenehm und variabel und beherrscht s?liche Tonlagen zwischen Gregg Allman, Folkie und Country-Outlaw.
Auf beiden CD's agiert weitgehend die gleiche Backing Band und die macht ihre Sache tadellos. Herausragend sind die Gitarren von Ed Canada und Wayne Perkins (von dem vermutlich die wundervollen Slide-Einlagen stammen). Die Liste von Bands, mit denen Perkins seit Anfang der 70er gearbeitet hat, ist ?gens ?w?igend. Von den Everly Brothers ? Bob Marley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, den Rolling Stones bis Glenn Frey.
Zwischen den einzelnen Songs kann man kaum Qualit?unterschiede feststellen. Das hei?, wenn dem H? die erste Nummer, also der Titelsong I Will Not Look Like Them, gef?t, dann kanner getrost die CD kaufen.
Es ist stimmiger Southern Rock. Vielleicht kann man sagen, die Schnittmenge aus den Allman Brothers, Little Feat, Stevie Ray und all den anderen Helden.
Unn?, einen Song herauszustellen. Es groovt, rockt und bluest. Die Nummern sind bis zu 7 Minuten lang, so da?gen?d Zeit und Platz ist, um den einen oder anderen ausgiebigen Jam-Ausflug zu machen. Und diese Ausfl?sind nicht von der Art, das man sich derweil ein neues Bier holt (oder altes wegbringt), sondern man sitzt gem?ch im Schaukelstuhl und wippt sich ein. Selten wird bei Studioproduktionen der Sound so authentisch und gef?oll transportiert.
?er einem Thema wie dem Sunday Blues kann man schon mal einige Minuten sinieren. Und sich fragen, ob man das nicht erst neulich geh?hat. Antwort: Nat?ch hat man. Aber nicht so angenehm relaxt und packend. "All the sunday demons are rolling...".
Gleich hinterher kommt eine h?he R&B-Nummer, bei der Jurassic Joe sein Boogie-Piano auspackt.
Mit Track 7 kommt der erste Ausritt in Country-Gefilde. Wirklich sch?akustische Gitarren um einen traditionellen (nicht altmodischen) Song. Weitab vom Nashville-Hit-Brei. Und gejodelt wird auch nicht.
Abschlu?von I WILL NOT LOOK LIKE THEM ist die Eddie Hinton-Nummer Everybody Needs Love. Eine sehr sehr sch?Fassung, zu der Thomas eine eigene Strophe hinzugef?hat. Kennt eigentlich noch jemand Eddie Hinton? Der hat ein paar tolle Soul-Nummern geschrieben und ist leider vor ein paar Jahren gestorben Die aktuelle CD ALABAMA DAY ist aus dem gleichen Holz geschnitzt. Und Holz ist w?ich zu nehmen. Wo Will Thomas draufsteht, da wird nicht mit Plastik gearbeitet. Man h?sich mal den
Titeltrack an. Perfekte Southern-Gitarren.
OK. Be Thankful gef?t mir nicht. Klingt mir zu sehr nach Jazzkeller nachts um halb 4. Ansonsten h?ich, nicht nur wegen der Fl? etliche Marshall Tucker Band-Einfl?.
She Gets Me nimmt 3, 4 mal eine ganz ?raschende Wendung. Spannender Song, toller Songwriter.
Waffle House ist eine witzig-melancholische Story ? ein 24-Stunden-Restaurant. Wunderbare Textzeile: "And the man says: well, he doesn't say a thing".
Anschlie?nd wird bei Got No Blues einmal mehr, nicht wirklich neues Bluesmaterial ganz vorz?ch gerockt. Wenn ein Gitarrist (bzw. 2) so rockt, dann kann das gespielte Schema noch so antik sein. Es kommt einfach sensationell r?. Die sch?Hammond und ein versch?tes Sax-Solo gibt es kostenlos dazu.
W?end ich Sleep Dr. zum x-ten Male h? f?t es mir pl?ich ein. Diese traumsch?Leadgitarre erinnert mich an Widespread Panic. Da perlen die Leads ?lich fl?g und rollend. Dazu kommt bei Will die zweite Gitarre und fertig ist ein perfekter Song. Bei WP fehlt mir die zweite Gitarre manchmal...
Will Thomas hat eine Affinit?zu souligen Songs. Auf ALABAMA DAY ?nimmt diese Rolle Let Love Come Between Us. Eine nette kleine Nummer.
Rausschmeisser hier ist Too Late. Ein Blues direkt aus einem Club ins Studio getragen. Was Stimme, Gitarre und Piano ausdr?n, ist Feeling pur.
Insgesamt ist ALABAMA DAY vielleicht etwas ruhiger und nachdenklicher als das Debut. Nichtsdestotrotz sind beide CD's wunderbar stimmungsvolle Werke von einem hochbegabten Songwriter, der sich dazu phantastische Musiker ins Haus geholt hat.
Das w? ich zu gern live h?. Bleibt nur die Frage: Kommst Du freiwillig zu uns, oder m?n wir Dich holen, Will? - Fred Schmidtlein - Home of Rock


Discography

Live in Copenhagen (2003)
Alabama Day (2000)
I Will Not Look Like Them (1997)

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Will Thomas writes Alabama Music; blues, country, Southern Rock, folk, and soul all fit within his take on the singer/songwriter genre. His performing career has taken him from the Mercury Lounge in New York to the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and on multiple tours in Europe, playing on bills with the Marshall Tucker Band, the Radiators, and Koko Taylor.

Will grew up in Alabama and returned to his roots to record two CDs, “I Will Not Look Like Them” (1997) and “Alabama Day” (2000). His latest release is “Live in Copenhagen” (2003) recorded over two shows at Vega Music Hall in Copenhagen with the Southern Fried Danish.