Keller Williams

While the interplay between the members of acts such as Phish and the octet currently touring as the Dead is consistently compelling, the jam-band aesthetic can sound equally at home in the hands of a single singer/songwriter. Keller Williams creates intensely dense compositions onstage thanks to a healthy handful of loop pedals and a boundless imagination that transforms even the simplest of grooves into the foundation for full-bore musical journeys. Every show breathes with a life of its own, thanks to Williams’ impish sense of humor and his penchant for off-the-cuff experimentalism. Williams’ latest recorded effort, Home, due to drop at the end of August, finds the Fredericksburg, Virginia, native finally finding his voice in the studio. While his previous efforts have been as eclectic as his concerts, they’ve also suffered from the same sort of creative schizophrenia that keeps some artists from knowing when to leave well enough alone. Home has its fair share of thickly layered sonic paintings, but it seems Williams has learned the value of letting bits and pieces of a blank canvas shine through.