Matt Williams (Tiny Boxes, The Ocean)

By William A. Peterson

Matt Williams is at it again.

A single bead of sweat slowly trickles down his temple as he launches his latest sustained, tuneful assault. He coaxes sweet sounds from his electric guitar and sings with joyous, unbridled passion. All the while, he's biding his time and gearing up for a split-second transition.

It arrives when his foot taps an electronic pedal that plays back the guitar sounds Williams just recorded. He quickly, but gently, puts down the instrument and grabs an electric violin. His eyes close, his arm moves gracefully and melodic sounds fill the room.

Another shift comes when Williams trades the violin for an electric mandolin. The looped guitar music continues uninterrupted. He plucks away, singing, beaming, transported.

Williams appears to be having the time of his 17-year-old life. He's in his element: a restaurant - Chico's Mexican Restaurant in Winterville is tonight's venue - club or bar. He's too young to drink but old enough to drive his audience to musical distraction.

"It's a good opportunity to get the feeling of playing live and earn yourself a couple of fans here and there," the Greenville musician says of performing at night spots he's too young to patronize. "That's always good. It's like a job, but you love to do it. You just show up where you need to be and go and have fun."

If exposure is Williams' idea of fun and success, he should be ecstatic. Since his live-music debut at Admiral's Cup Coffee House in the summer of 2000, he's been a regular on the local circuit. Frequent gigs include venues such as Main Street Beer Co., Wrong Way Corrigan's, A.J. McMurphy's and Ham's Restaurant & Brew House. He's done graduation parties at The Attic nightclub, benefits, birthday parties, weddings - even funerals.

Life for this in-demand one-teen band means finding a balancing act between academic and musical pursuits. The J.H. Rose High School junior, who usually performs three or four weekends a month, also is a member of his school's Honors Orchestra and has been a member of the All-State Orchestra each year since seventh grade. Oh, and he's in the National Honor Society.
"You do the best you can. Work on it little by little and get everything done," Williams says matter-of-factly. "Just kind of manage it."

Jamie Guyton, restaurant and bar manager at Main Street Beer Co., predicts a stellar musical career for Williams. "Matt plays better than bands that I know that have been playing for years. I mean, I've seen him play better than a five-piece band," Guyton says. "I think he's going to be like a future Eric Clapton. He's just going to make it in the business. As he gets older he's just going to be one of those guys that does make it to the top."

The teen, whose music reflects strong influences of Dave Matthews, James Taylor, David Gray and Counting Crows, augments cover tunes with his own compositions, such as "Freedom Fall," which he wrote after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

"Every now and then I'll take stuff and change it around to kind of fit my own needs for it," he says. "That might be something like Bob Marley or Alice in Chains or anything - just try to get it to where it fits the night real well so it can flow along with the rest of the material."

Between gigs, studies and other engagements, Williams is hard at work on his debut original-composition CD. He hopes to release it by September. "I think once I get my CD, it'll open up a lot of doors for me."

Meanwhile, Williams, who has taken Suzuki violin lessons since he was 5, is mapping out his academic future. He's eyeing several colleges, including East Carolina University.
While his stage show appears to be all-Matt, all the time, Williams freely acknowledges that he gets by with a lot of help from his parents, Jennifer and Steve. The couple are his self-described roadies, groupies and unabashed cheering section. His sister, Patti, also is a regular fixture when he cranks it up.

"They support me more than anyone else, and they've been doing it for a real long time," Williams says.
Steve figures his son's tuneful heritage is somewhat genetic. The elder Williams, who performed in high school and college groups and a Greenville band during the late '60s, does sound checks, offers feedback and rarely sits still during Matt's shows. He's usually too busy moving about the room and making sure the music is audible in every corner of the night's venue.

Steve's only good-natured complaint is that his son is too bashful about promoting himself, even during his performances.

"He's played seven songs," Williams says at the Chico's performance, "and he hasn't said who he is yet."

- The Daily Reflector

Matt Williams | Your Last Make-Believe
It’s interesting how, upon meeting an artist a few times, one can develop ideas about how their music sounds without ever having heard it before. Such is the case with Matt Williams. He has generated considerable buzz around here since sometime last summer, and we had met a few times. Then there were the posters around town advertising his gigs- “He’s like Keller Williams!” people said. “A one-man band!” others exclaimed. It was difficult to know what to expect, but I figured I had a good idea. As it turns out, I didn’t have any idea.

Your Last Make-Believe is a studio recording, so estimating how much was done via looping (the technique of creating and layering live backing tracks using digital samplers of various types) is kind of pointless. “Looping” has been popularized by Keller Williams, along with the “one man band” thing — hence the comparison. Likewise, Matt Williams plays and sings every single note on the CD. But judging an artist by their purely technical similarity to anyone else just isn’t very cool, so no more Keller. This is all about Matt.

Williams’ voice calls to mind a bit of Dave Matthews, some of Jump Little Children’s Jay Clifford in the quirky intonation, and even Nelly Furtado. The neat little trail offs at the end of a line and the repetition of a word with varying inflection all call to mind Furtado’s phrasing. Bits of Maroon 5 and Jamiroquai’s modern soul sound, but from a more acoustic basis, constitute more recent points of reference. Musically, his proficiency on such an array of instruments (voice, guitars, mandolin, violin, bass and percussion) is ridiculous. It’s hard to pinpoint where his specialty lies instrumentally, as he uses all of them to equal effect.

A concept album of sorts, some of Your Last Make-Believe deals with the importance of keeping our willingness to imagine alive. Subsequently, the entire disc has a dreamy, echo-laden quality that suits the material. Isley Brothers styled fuzz guitar over tight, jazzy acoustic funk permeates the title track, setting a nice tone for what’s to come. Some of Marvin Gaye’s world-weary lyrical consciousness seeps into “Why World Why?” and “The Dreamer’s Eyes” feels like an older song than it really is, with a classic little chord sequence in the middle section. Williams’ writing displays a dedication to his craft, and a willingness to work a part until it’s “there.” None of the album’s performances sound settled for.

A standout track is “Writing In Red.” Much of Your Last Make-Believe has such a calm, relaxed demeanor that the angst this song provides is a welcome jolt. It’s a powerful tune, and it sports a fantastic chorus (with tight harmony vocals) that lodges itself tightly in the back of your head. “Glory” has a cool middle-eastern vibe, with some appropriately ethnic sounding, octave jumping melody work (violin? whammy-pedaled guitar?) layered with the stop/start acoustic guitar rhythm.

Matt Williams has cooked up quite a satisfying listening experience. There’s a quality and confidence in the playing that is impressive, but never detracts from the songs themselves. The choice not to go “full band” on the album gives it more breathing room, and suits the primarily acoustic format nicely. The real mind-blower will be watching Williams pull all of this off live- and rumor has it he does just that, and then some. Four stars, most certainly.

— Chris Cooper

(Chris Cooper works at In Your Ear Music Emporium in Sylva and can be reached at thumbpick43@yahoo.com.)
- Smokey Mountain News: In Review

Do you like David Gray? How about Dave Matthews? Then put down your bowl, quit rolling a doobie with The Chimes and listen up because I’m going to let you in on the best thing since Gov’t Mule released Off The Deep End Vol. 3.

His name is Matt Williams, and his sound can best be described as Dave Matthews’s composition with David Gray vocals.

Williams’ live shows require the use of eight different instruments, which he conducts on stage through the use of live, loop sampling in a very Howie Day-like manner.

Matt is more than just another jammer, though; he plays guitar, Hawaiian lap-slide guitar, violins and electric mandolin.

Aside from playing every instrument on his debut album, First Light, Williams also produced the songs and was extremely active in the mixing and mastering of the record.

Williams is a one-man musical force coming to blow your minds and steal you daughters the other way around. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

The album’s opening track, Whisper, introduces the listener to Williams’ honest voice and reflective song writing. The track is about unrequited love and chasing that dream.

My favorite song on First Light is track three, Grey Rain. Clocking in at six minutes, it’s not exactly radio-friendly, but screw radio because the song is amazing. It’s perfectly built into the most passionately honest song about confused love ever.

If you’re into great acoustic singer/songwriters, whose crafty, beautifully intense songs will move you, then definitely check out Matt Williams at www.mattwilliamsmusic.com.

Published on 2004-03-25 02:05:48
and written by Dan Hille
- The Ohio Chimes