I picked up my first bass at age 16 and two weeks later joined a country/western band and began performing immediately. Growing up in Texas, I was influenced by a variety of musical styles that could only blend in that place and time - especially the Blues.
I lived in Dallas when it was quite common to see Stevie Ray Vaughan setup in the corner of one club, 2 blocks down The Fabulous Thunderbirds were on stage, nearby Eric Johnson was performing and another mile away Freddie King was sitting in with someone. Other local favorites played regularly like Bugs Henderson, Smokin’ Joe Kubek, Mark Pollack and the Midnighters and Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets. Hearing all those incredible players really turned my life around. Around every corner was yet another phenomenal blues guitarist. I was lucky enough to play with 3 of them in the same band - Slidin’ Stevie Davis, Craig Wallace and Cookie McGhee. All 3 earned the honor as Texas Tornado’s Hall of Fame.
Played with many other blues and rock bands, most notably a rock band called Pandora, touring all over Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
In 1983, I started doing lighting on the side to pay the bills and ended up putting my music aside for awhile hiring on at Showco/Varilite, a Dallas-based company providing sound and lighting to almost all of the major touring acts of the day. I was lucky enough to tour the world many times over as a Lighting Programmer/Director for acts such as The Kinks, Peter Gabriel, The Thompson Twins, Supertramp, David Lee Roth , Bon Jovi , Phil Collins , Sting, Tears For Fears, George Benson, Barbara Streisand, Pink Floyd , Guns ’N Roses , and many, many others. An education like no other.
In 1993 I moved to Los Angeles and expanded my lighting career into Television, Film and Theater, lighting everything from "The Tonight Show" and "The Golden Globe Awards", to films like "Showgirls" and "Pure Country" , to Broadway’s "Beauty and the Beast" and much more .
Once again I’ve returned to my roots joining a 3-piece Texas-style blues band, the J. R. Williams Band currently performing around the LA area.
