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Roger
Williams
started playing the resophonic,
Dobro style guitar in1963, when he was just a young teenager.
Within the first year, he had already debuted with The Lilly Brothers
and Don Stover at the 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,White Mountain Bluegrass, Hazel Dickens, Joe Val, Bill
Harrell, Wyatt Rice, Delia Bell & Bill Grant, Southern Rail,
Ray Legere, Mark Schatz, Mac Wiseman,The New England Bluegrass
Band, Salamander Crossing, Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters, Slavek
Hanzlik, Mark Erelli, Hiro Arita and others. Career highlights
include thirteen overseas tours with various artists, including
a performance at the prestigious Dobro Festival in Slovakia, and
teaching workshops during Bluegrass Week at the Augusta Heritage
Center in Elkins, WV. Roger has recorded three solo projects,
Fireball, Rt. 2 To Amherst, and I Know This
Road, as well as three collaborative efforts entitled River
Of No Return (with long-time friend and musical associate
Ray Legere), Williams Squared (with son JD Williams),
and Something 'Bout You in Nashville (with partner Amy
Gallatin). Roger has also been involved in CMH label's 'Pickin'
On' series, where different musical genres are interpreted in
the bluegrass vein. About Roger, Bluegrass Unlimited magazine
has said: "Williams, like all great acoustic slide players,
can be mellow and lingering or crisp and jaunty. He's also a very
fine singer (with) more than a little of Merle Haggard in voice
and emotion."
"Roger Williams is one bad-ass Dobro player."--Jim
Chapdelaine, Engineer/Composer/Producer/Guitarist