Guitar shop apprentice gone mad!

It’s late at night at the guitar shop.  Keller finally is alone;  his boss left him telling him to lock the door after he was done checking and tuning the new instruments.  Keller loves this time, when it’s just him and all the instrument in the shop.   It feels peaceful and somewhat unreal.  The hollow bodies of the instruments that pick up the tiniest noise and carry it on for several seconds give the shop a sense of infiniteness.  Keller picks up this huge 12-string guitar, a Guild that he loves so much.  He starts playing one of his favorite tunes when his eyes spotting the pile of loop stations he has to unpack tomorrow suddenly light up.

He records a four bar riff with the Guild, hits loop!  It needs some more rhythm, so he records a second loop with the small drum machine that his boss keeps for people who want to try a guitar.  He hits loop!  The groove needs bass, which he adds with the bodiless electric upright bass that is slowly gathering dust in the corner of the shop.  He hits loop again!  He adds percussions, hits loop, adds a little bit of whistling, hits loop, and starts to sing on top of all of this.

At this point sound engineer Keller Williams realizes that he is not alone, but on stage at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA with a sold out crowd of probably 800 college kids.   He is rocking the party.  The people know his songs and sing along or collectively dance with their hands up in the air.  He does not say much during the whole performance, but his sunny appearance infects the whole Theatre.  The choir reaches its climax during the cover versions of Steve Miller Band’s “Joker” and Stone Temple Pilots’ “Plush”.  I liked the stage setup which was looking like a cozy guitar store with dozens of guitars hanging from the wall.  It reminds me of BTM-Guitars in Nürnberg where I once worked (if you ever get a chance to visit that shop, don’t miss out on this).  That was different from any other stage setup I have seen so far!  The instruments hanging on the wall are not just there for show effect, Keller randomly picks up different guitars during the show.

The concert goes on for more than two hours.  Keller comes back for only one encore, but it’s another kicker.  Again he records and loops a number of instruments.  But this time no guitar is involved anymore.  Just crazy percussions! This Keller Williams show on January 24th, 2009 at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, a Christmas present for me, gets a 9 on a scale of 10!

Steve Miller Band “The Joker” performed by Keller Williams [the whole show]

Stone Temple Pilots “Plush” performed by Keller Williams [the whole show]

[Keller Williams @ myspace]

[Keller Williams own homepage]