PICK
2012 / KELLER WILLIAMS WITH THE TRAVELIN’ McCOURYS
“This album came about after a handful of shows at festivals with myself and the Travelin’ McCoury’s. It was so much fun, I was able to talk them into doing a record together. I consider these gentlemen to be bluegrass royalty and the fact that they allowed me into their world still baffles me. I flew to Nashville and we tracked this record in about four days at the Butcher Shop, which is a small studio tucked away in an industrial neighborhood of Nashville. Leading up to this we tossed around song ideas and settled on five of my originals, three of which are debuted here (“Something Else”, “Broken Convertible”, and “Bumper Sticker”) an original of Alan Bartram’s (“Messed Up Just Right”), a cover of Steve Earle that Ronnie chose (“Graveyard Shift”), as well as John Hartford’s Sexual Harassment, which gets even Rob McCoury singing. Jason Carter chose “Waste of Good Corn Liquor” written by Murray Lewis & Bill Long, and I chose “American Car” by Mike Doughty, “I’m Amazed” by My Morning Jacket, and the pop radio hit “Price Tag”, which I learned from a XBOX dance game and was made famous by Jessie J. At times the album does stray away from traditional bluegrass, but what did you expect?” — Kw
