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Don L Williams began playing guitar in the early 60's, and was influenced by
the British Invasion and the folk movement of the time. His father was also
a musician and played country music which provided additional influence. In
the military he started learning a modified Travis style finger picking from
a friend while stationed overseas, which he added to his playing style. From his
interest in folk and americana music, he discovered bluegrass
in the early 80's, and began playing banjo. Other instruments followed, including
harmonica, hammered and mountain dulcimer and Irish whistle.
Following several years of very little musical activity, Don was invited to join a
Praise and Worship band at his local church sometime around 2000, and soon found
himself playing guitar again. Later, he bought a mandolin and began playing
that with the band to augment the acoustic guitars. Today his main intruments
are acoustic guitar, harmonica and mandolin.
While playing in the band, he became friends with some of the other musicians who
were also songwriters, and began playing other music outside of the church band.
This eventually led to Don trying his own hand at songwriting.
The natural progression then was going from guitar player to songwriter to singer/songwriter,
and with encouragement from his friends, he began performing his songs publicly.
Currently, Don writes songs and performs around the local area at open mics
and other venues, and is active in the local chapter of the Nashville Songwriters
Associaton International (NSAI). He also continues to play with LightHouse,
a Praise and Worship band. One of his favorite activities is to get together
with other songwriting friends for an informal song circle. He also enjoys an annual trip to the Kerrville
Folk Music Festival held in Kerrville, Texas.
Songwriting influences include John Prine, Slaid Cleaves, Mando Saenz, Lucinda
Williams, Bob Dylan, Fred Eaglesmith, Antje Duvekot, Lisa Markley and a multitude of other independent singer/songwriters
who weave stories into song.
