Paul Williams (born 1935) is a mandolin player, tenor singer, and songwriter from Wytheville, Virginia. He is best known for six years with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys, from 1957 to 1963. With Martin and banjo player J.D. Crowe, he formed one of the most powerful trios in bluegrass. He has more than 125 songs to his credit, and he joined the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
Why Williams matters
Martin, Williams, and Crowe set the standard for hard-driving bluegrass timing. Williams’s mandolin and tenor were a big part of that sound. He also wrote or co-wrote many of the songs Martin made famous, including Hold Whatcha Got, Night, and Mr. Engineer. By his own count he wrote at least half of what he recorded with Martin. He played melody first: “I was never interested in just the notes, I love the melody.”
Life and career
Williams was born Paul Humphrey on March 30, 1935, in Wytheville, Virginia. His father gave him a mandolin before he was ten. He started playing with a distant cousin, Jimmy Williams, and took the name Williams so they could bill themselves as the Williams Brothers. In their early teens they had a radio spot in Pulaski, Virginia, and worked stations in West Virginia and Virginia.
In early 1951, at 16, Paul joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in Bluefield, West Virginia. He played guitar and sang on their RCA sessions in 1952, and several of the songs were his. In 1953 he worked a short time with the Stanley Brothers. In 1954 he joined the Air Force and played electric guitar in a country band overseas.
In the fall of 1957 Jimmy Martin called and asked him to replace Earl Taylor on mandolin and tenor. Paul joined Martin and Crowe in Detroit. The band moved to the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport in 1958, then to the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling. Over six years Paul recorded eleven sessions and 49 songs with Martin.
In 1963 he left to sing gospel music. For 30 years he worked outside music, retiring from the U.S. Post Office in 1995, while leading his church choir and singing in a gospel quartet on Morristown radio. In 1995 he formed the Victory Trio, which toured for 15 years and recorded for Rounder and Rebel. In 2010 he reunited with J.D. Crowe and Doyle Lawson for Old Friends Get Together. Their recording of his song Prayer Bells of Heaven won two IBMA awards in 2011. Williams and Lawson followed with the duet album Chapter Three in 2017.
Playing style
Williams plays melody. His breaks state the tune in plain terms and keep the drive Martin demanded. Martin worked with him on vocal phrasing and tone, and Martin and Crowe both drilled him on timing. That training shows in his mandolin: every note sits right on the beat, with no rush and no drag.
His tenor is the other half. In Martin’s trios he sang a strong, clear high part that blended with Martin’s lead and Crowe’s baritone.
Influences and legacy
Williams grew up on his father’s music and on the Stanley Brothers and the Sauceman Brothers. He played beside Jimmy Martin and J.D. Crowe in their prime, and later with Doyle Lawson, who had played banjo for Martin in 1963.
His songs have been covered by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hank Williams Jr., Ernest Tubb, Ray Charles, the Osborne Brothers, IIIrd Tyme Out, and Doyle Lawson. He followed Bobby Osborne in the line of singers who passed through the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers.
Signature tunes and songs
Hold Whatcha Got Night Mr. Engineer My Walking Shoes Prayer Bells of Heaven I Like to Hear ‘Em Preach It.
Essential recordings
Ain’t God Good, with the Victory Trio (Rounder) Old Friends Get Together, with J.D. Crowe and Doyle Lawson (Mountain Home, 2010) Standing Tall and Tough, with J.D. Crowe and Doyle Lawson (Mountain Home, 2014) Chapter Three, with Doyle Lawson (2017)
Awards and honors
IBMA Recorded Event of the Year, Prayer Bells of Heaven, with Doyle Lawson and J.D. Crowe (2011) IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year, Prayer Bells of Heaven, with Doyle Lawson and J.D. Crowe (2011) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2018)
Watch and listen
Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys play Hold Whatcha Got, which Williams co-wrote.
What to learn from Williams
Learn Hold Whatcha Got and play the melody as a break, nothing extra. Then play it with a metronome on beats two and four and listen for any note that pulls ahead. Martin’s bands won on timing, and Williams learned it the hard way. A plain melody played with perfect time will move a crowd more than a flashy break played loose.
Sources
Paul Williams, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Paul Williams (bluegrass musician), Wikipedia Doyle Lawson, IBMA award recipients
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Williams played beside Jimmy Martin, the singer who also worked with Bobby Osborne. Doyle Lawson recorded with him late in his career.