[center][img width=500]//7ca49eb9f67ba1319ef136f9d52cd8b8.cdn.bubble.io/f1738442329174x553983660535578400/richtext_content.jpeg[/img][/center] [center][/center] [b]TIM WILLIAMS[/b] It's no secret: Blues veteran is city's own JAMES MURETICH CALGARY HERALD The friend's voice was excited when he called from the Ship & Anchor to ex- plain why he was late coming over. "Listen, there's this guy here playing blues who's just great!," he shouted over the pub's background sounds into the phone. "I've got to stay for another set. He's unbelievable. Have you ever heard of him? His name's, ah, Tim Williams." It was his first time catching one of Calgary's best blues artists in the act. For others, however, the veteran singer-song- writer has long been recognized as one of the people who make this city's blues and roots music scene such an exciting one. He's been playing professionally for 33 years, beginning in his native California and now in Calgary for more than a decade. He's put out numerous CDs, like his brand new disc Indigo Incidents, and been nominated for Juno Awards. He's a regular at local clubs and has played blues, jazz and folk festivals from Montreal to Kerrville, Texas, and throughout western Canada. Still, Williams isn't surprised when his skilled and soulful style of country- blues strikes a chord with someone who's never heard of him before. "He's part of a very big thing," says Williams, laughing softly. "I play forever at festivals and get artistic directors coming up to me and saying: 'Where have you been? Why haven't I heard about you before?' "I mean, it's the level I function on. I don't use a publicist and things like that. I go get the work, make a living and just keep it on a very low-key, personal, manageable level." The blues have been his consuming musical passion ever since being inspired by such mentors as Jesse 'Lone Cat' Fuller, Lightnin' Hopkins and Mississippi Fred McDowell. His first disc, Blues Full Circle, came out nearly three decades ago and his latest receives its official release tonight at the Kaos Jazz & Blues Bistro, where Williams performs along with a little help from his friends. Perhaps even more so than his 1995 Riverboat Rendezvous disc (which has sold more than 2,000 copies independently), Indigo Incidents is a seamless, acoustic recording that runs the gamut from down-home country-blues to a great jug band blues version of the old pop-soul hit A Lover's Question, from new Williams compositions to timeless traditional blues numbers like Death Ain't Got No Mercy. Combined with Williams sweet vocal style, it's the sound of an accomplished blues artist completely comfortable with the path he has chosen. "You sort of wake up one day and realize that you're not going to chuck it and become a plumber, that you're doing a life sentence. You just settle in and do it the best way that you can," says Williams, who also keeps busy producing records for other blues artists, like the upcoming CD by Calgary's Back Alley John. "There's a weird sort of missionary thing about it too. There are so few guys left still doing it who actually played with any of the older, acoustic blues musicians. To me, it's important to keep a little focus on where it came from. "I always figure if I can leave a gig and somebody goes to the record store and buys somebody like Blind Willie Johnson, then I'm sort of paying back the debt of music I learned from those guys," says Williams, who's played no less than 550 gigs in the past two years. In concert or on record, the 49-year-old artist is constantly out to prove that the blues is very much a "living" music. "It's important. It's part of who we are, part of what shaped what we hear now and how people write and play," says Williams. "I'm not content to have it be a museum piece."
