Jess Williamson and RF Shannon at Bardot in Los Angeles
Jess Williamson created a comfortable atmosphere with her raspy voice and laid back attitude during her performance at Bardot’s School Night! on Feb. 17, 2014 in Hollywood, California.
Approaching the stage from the right side, Williamson held a glass of red wine in one hand and a smile that excited the crowd. She was ready to perform, and the audience waited patiently, anticipating how the previous act, RF Shannon, would perform as Williamson’s band for her set.
A sultry “Hi, my name is Jess Williamson,” and a mention of RF Shannon’s show only moments before—“I was really inspired by their set”— opened the dialogue between the Austin, Texas native and her audience.
“When we got to Bardot there was not enough room for two bands,” she says, “so we decided to split our set. So this is a different band now.”
And it was. Gone was the all-male band, now replaced with Williamson as both lead vocalist and musician. Playing the guitar and banjo, she was able to perform four songs from her new album, Native State, which was released Jan. 28, 2014. The set list comprised of songs that required the help of her vocal range, including “Blood Song,” “Native State,” and her final song of the night, “Medicine Wheel.”
During “Medicine Wheel,” Williamson fixed the tuning of her banjo, and alluded to the fact that most likely none of the audience members would have noticed or even cared about the slight mistuning of her instrument, but it bothered her; a testament to her dedication to the craft.
Her commitment to the music shows, as Ken Oak, the cellist playing with Meg Myers who was watching the previous acts before his own performance, was captivated. “I thought she had a really great voice. I love how it was kind of crackly and she had a really good range, and dynamically the songs were really interesting,” he said.
He also enjoyed the fact that a fellow Texan was playing at Bardot. “I grew up in Houston, Texas,” says Oak, “so I like any band from Texas; but yeah, she was great.”
Inspired by musicians like Billie Holiday and Leonard Cohen, Williamson is no stranger to the anomaly. Her interest in music shows her depth; not just enjoying what sounds good, but also what pushes the envelope, both vocally and lyrically. It is no surprise, then, that she sees herself as being unique while on tour in California.
“We’re, like, exotic here,” she says. “We’re like the out of towners…. It’s nice to feel kind of anonymous.”
While she may feel a sense of anonymity at the moment, Williamson is gearing up for what is to come. She is currently on tour with the band, RF Shannon, and the two groups left Texas for the road on Feb. 11, 2014, driving for two-and-a-half days from Austin to Los Angeles. The band played for a week straight, with the exception of Valentine’s Day. They performed in Marfa, Texas, a place Williamson says she has stopped to play at on every tour; Tucson, Arizona, Los Angeles, California; then down to San Diego for one show, and back to Los Angeles for this show. After Bardot’s School Night!, the bands will travel to El Paso on their way back to Austin, Texas.
The bands have a bond that makes traveling together a lot easier. RF Shannon played their first show with Williamson. So “I’m like a fan and a friend,” she says.
And while playing with the guys is something that Williamson enjoys, when asked to think about her dream performance, she says, “I think an all female fronted tour could be really cool.” Williamson will move a step closer to that goal when she opens for Angel Olsen at Red 7 in Austin this year.
Until then, she is has full control of the trajectory of her career. “I tried to create smoke and mirrors,” says Williamson, “but I pretty much do everything myself.” From planning this tour, booking shows and interacting with the right people to play at the right places, she does not let anything stand in her way, and has proven that her hard work is already paying off.