Roger Williams (13)

Roger Williams was born to traveling musicians Gerry Lee and Curley Williams, who were on the road performing with Ray Bradley and His Tennessee Champions (Gerry on upright bass and vocals, and Curley on Dobro and vocals). At that time, they were working in northeastern Maine in the town of Presque Isle. By the time Roger was a month old, Gerry realized that being on the road constantly wouldn't allow her the time to be the mom she wanted to be. So she returned to her hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts where Roger spent his formative years. In his early teens Roger developed an interest playing the Dobro after having seen one being played on a weekly television show featuring local country and bluegrass acts. Within a year Roger was sitting in with The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover at the world famous Hillbilly Ranch in Boston, Mass. where they had performed for nearly two decades. Since then he has gone on to perform and/or record with many well respected bluegrass and folk acts on the national and international circuit, including Don Stover & The White Oak Mountain Boys, White Mountain Bluegrass, Hazel Dickens, Joe Val, Bill Harrell, Delia Bell & Bill Grant, Southern Rail, Ray Legere (with Mark Schatz and Wyatt Rice), Mac Wiseman,The New England Bluegrass Band, Salamander Crossing, Slavek Hanzlik, Mark Erelli, Hiro Arita and others. Career highlights include twelve overseas tours with various artists and teaching workshops during Bluegrass Week at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV. Roger currently performs with Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters, which has a steady presence in Europe, UK, and Canada, as well as the eastern seaboard of the U.S. In addition to his Nashville duet album with Amy Gallatin (Something 'Bout You) and his work as producer, arranger, and musician on Stillwaters' Phoenix, Roger also has three solo projects: Fireball, Rt. 2 To Amherst, and River Of No Return, a collaboration with long time musical associate Ray Legere. He has been involved in numerous of the CMH label's Pickin' On series, where different musical genres are interpreted in the bluegrass vein. Recently he has incorporated Fireball and Rt. 2 into a double cd entitled Resophonic Retrospective, adding an additional track--"Czech Inn"-- which he penned while performing in the Czech Republic.