{"id":2455418,"date":"2020-03-05T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=322025"},"modified":"2020-03-05T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:00:00","slug":"keller-williams-discusses-speed-covers-album-return-to-belly-up-aspen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/keller-williams-discusses-speed-covers-album-return-to-belly-up-aspen\/","title":{"rendered":"Keller Williams discusses \u2018Speed\u2019 covers album, return to Belly Up Aspen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Keller WIlliams’ latest album, “Speed,” isnclues bluegrass-styled covers of songs by Weezer and FIona Apple.<\/strong>
Courtesy image<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The album art for Keller Williams\u2019 latest album, \u201cSpeed,\u201d is inspired by Hunter S. Thompson\u2019s \u201cFear and Loathing in Las Vegas\u201d and its Ralph Steadman illustrations. It finds Williams standing up in the backseat of the book\u2019s iconic Red Shark, with Williams\u2019 collaborators \u2014 husband-wife flat-pickers Larry and Jenny Keel \u2014 in the front seat in the Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo roles.<\/p>\n

Williams is a fan of the late Aspen literary lion, and \u201cFear and Loathing\u201d and \u201cThe Rum Diary\u201d in particular, he said, but the artistic choice was simply about the rough concept for his the album: playing fast and fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s \u2018Speed\u2019 because we like to play really fast,\u201d Williams said Monday from home in Virginia.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be back at Belly Up Aspen on Sunday, closing a three-show Colorado run that\u2019ll hit Fort Collins and Nederland.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeed\u201d marks the 25th studio album for Williams, 50, who has carved out a singular place for himself in the jam and folk scene, playing acoustic dance music and showcasing his ability to play in just about any genre and style while staging astounding live solo performances where he uses loop machines to craft a symphonic live sound.<\/p>\n

Since his 1994 debut \u201cFreek,\u201d each of his albums has had a one-syllable title, each summing up its own musical concept (\u201cKids\u201d is children\u2019s songs, \u201cGrass\u201d is his spin on bluegrass, \u201cFunk\u201d is funk, etc.). His continued commitment to the album as an artform is anachronistic in 2020, when most artists are focused on singles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve always had a romantic vision about,\u201d he explained. \u201cEach record is a particular compilation of songs to be listened to in that order.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled learning about the song-to-song flow of an album as a kid by listening to his parents\u2019 eight-track tapes, then being jarred by the CD era when you could play songs shuffled on the stereo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to keep it alive,\u201d he added. \u201cEach record I make is a document, for myself to hear when I\u2019m really old. I mean, I\u2019m old now, but older.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he churns out albums, Keller\u2019s live performances remain his creative signature. His solo sets are the stuff of legend, using loops to layer his vocal and multi-instrumental performance.<\/p>\n

This winter he\u2019s doing long weekend runs around the U.S., flying for three-night regional tours. The flight gigs have given him a useful creative constraint, he said, traveling with only his tour manager: \u201cWe can each bring up to three 70-pound bags, so it\u2019s usually three guitar cases and three Pelican cases. I\u2019m trying to do more with a lot less and technology has gotten to where I\u2019m able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Onstage at these Colorado shows, Williams will have a bass on a stand, two acoustic guitars, one of which has a guitar synthesizer that can pick up string vibrations and which Williams can manipulate on the computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can get all kinds of synthesizer sounds out of that \u2014 a helicopter coming in for a landing or aliens or violins or vibraphones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Released in November, \u201cSpeed\u201d is the third album Williams has made with the Keels and the second album of bluegrass covers he has made with them (the first was 2010\u2019s \u201cThief\u201d).<\/p>\n

It includes string-band sprints through the tribute songs, with weird and fun selections like Ricky Martin\u2019s \u201cLivin\u2019 la Vida Loca\u201d and Nikki Bluhm\u2019s \u201cLittle Too Late\u201d along with \u201990s alternative classics like Fiona Apple\u2019s \u201cCriminal\u201d to Weezer\u2019s \u201cHash Pipe\u201d and the Presidents of the United States of America\u2019s \u201cPeaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese songs picked me,\u201d Williams explained. \u201cThey get stuck in my head and I have to play them and record them to get them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t set out to make a covers record, he said, but these songs are what came out when he and the Keels started jamming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my self-indulgent plan to hang out with my friends,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe didn\u2019t set out to do a covers record. It was just me wanting to spend time hanging out with my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how all three of his albums with The Keels have come about, with Williams sending voice-memo rough cuts to the couple and the three of them recording live together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a lot of rehearsal time, other than just hanging out backstage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While he doesn\u2019t plan much for recording sessions, Williams is obsessive about his set lists for live performance. Preparing for Aspen, he studied his set lists from previous shows and is working on a performance that won\u2019t repeat songs the local audience has heard recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying not to play the same stuff that I played last time,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I always have new stuff kicking around that I want to get out. I spend way too much time on set lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has a devoted Colorado following and is a regular presence at Belly Up. He fondly his 2006 experience headlining Jazz Aspen\u2019s Labor Day festival, where he jammed onstage with fellow headliner Matisyahu.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was holding his child and came and sat in with me, with the kid all mellow, and he came onstage and sang these improv lyrics over a groove,\u201d Williams recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s a great musical memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 ski country fans know him as the avid snowboarder behind the powder day anthem \u201cFloating on the Freshies.\u201d But he rarely gets the chance to ride when he comes through Aspen and other ski towns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a typical trip to a ski resort in Colorado I bring tons of wonderful snow that I can\u2019t partake in,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keller WIlliams’ latest album, “Speed,” isnclues bluegrass-styled covers of songs by Weezer and FIona Apple.Courtesy image The album art for Keller Williams\u2019 latest album, \u201cSpeed,\u201d is inspired by Hunter S. Thompson\u2019s \u201cFear and Loathing in Las Vegas\u201d and its Ralph Steadman illustrations. It finds Williams standing up in the backseat of the book\u2019s iconic Red […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 12:08:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}