I was born in North Carolina, Orange County. I got my first start in the noise making business singing in the Baptist choir. Choir singin' was nice, and I loved going to choir camp an' all, but my singin' changed from there. From the first time I heard my granddaddy play clawhammer banjo and imitate a train whistle on his harmonica, my soul was captured by the raw sounds of hillbilly music.
Then something called rockabilly floated past my ears, and I was completely smitten. That raucous rhythm found a home deep in my veins, and soon I was a bonafide junkie. I got my first guitar when I was 13 and started in on it, finding chords to back up my crooning. Later on, I picked up the string bass and then played both guitar and string bass in several bands, including bluegrass, oldtime country western swing, and honkytonk. I've freelanced around a bit with some other styles too, but it's honkytonk & rockabilly that resonate with the biggest bang for me.
Currently I'm playing with 2 bands, Girl Howdy - an all-gal core, with guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, & piano - rounded out with a roving cast of drummers & stringbass players. We have a ball playing 1950's style honkytonk music. Catch our website at www.girlhowdyband.com, or search for us in myspace too.
The other band is a dance band called Slippery Sneakers, which is a fusion of zydeco and R&B styles. I'm a hired gun in this combo, playing the "scrubboard", a percussion instrument that looks like a metal bib with ridges in it. I have no idea what I'm doing, and it all started at a party just tryin' this fool thing out. A bandleader that happened to be there, liked what I was doing and hired me for some gigs. That was with a band called Dirty Rice. Since then I've kept being hired back, and now I play with the Slippery Sneakers band, whose website is www.slipperysneakers.com
Then every now & again, I get to perform as MYSELF, meaning my original material, the stuff I recorded for El Toro Records, my label. They're a real cool label with some real cool music. Check 'em out at www.eltororecords.com My release with them is called "Rocket Girl" available at cdbaby.com
Betsy-DawnWilliams
From El Toro Records: This first CD will please both the fans of female rockabilly Wanda Jackson style and the lovers of the Ronnie Dawson and Planet Rockers sound; 12 original compositions and just one cover backed by rockin' music aces as Graham Tichy (Bones Maki) Jimmy Haggerty (Lustre Kings) and Jeff Potter!
