Gary Williams - The Travelin' Blues Boy (CD)

Release Date: 08/11/23

-Gary Williams, born 1938, from the Pacific Northwest of the USA, has written over 600(!) songs in a career that spanned a mere 40 years.
-Bear Family Records® re-releases 34 of his greatest recordings - rockabilly, country and folk - from 1957 to '66, released on Verve, Panorama, Manito, Connie Sue and Empire, among others.
-Throughout his life, Gary Williams was overshadowed by the great stars of his time - based on the quality of his songs and his great performance, he should have been one of them!
-A jam-packed CD album with carefully restored and re-mastered recordings.
-Country and Rock and Roll musician Deke Dickerson was able to interview Gary Williams shortly before his death and wrote the elaborately researched liner notes for the illustrated booklet.

Gary Williams was born in 1938 in Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the States. As a child he became fascinated by the music of the 'Blue Yodeler', Jimmie Rodgers.
At age sixteen - by now playing guitar well and appearing live on local station KXOI television shows - Williams decided to attend the second edition of the 'Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Celebration' in Meridian, Mississippi. After an exciting road trip - which ultimately earned him the nickname 'Travelin' Blues Boy' - he gets a chance to perform as part of the festival, as does a yet unknown guy named Elvis Presley.

Back in Spokane, he continued to perform on the radio and in the summer of 1955 was signed by the Town Hall Party, the most popular country music television show on the West Coast. A year later, he appeared several times on an ABC television show in Nashville, was invited by the Louisiana Hayride and the Ozark Mountain Jubilee, and eventually sang a few R'n'R songs as part of the Ranch Party on television.
Finally, in 1957, he made his first recordings for Verve Records. His single Travelin' Blues Boy b/w I'm Gonna Return features Barney Kessel, Merle Travis and Wesley Tuttle on guitars.