CSA member Chuck Williams took stage with Bluegrass Legend, Dr. Ralph Stanley (O Brother Where Art Thou, Clinch Mountain Boys, Stanley Brothers) last Sunday. Dr. Stanley has been a performer for decades, with many accolades and over 50,000 followers countrywide. After the show, Chuck drove three hours south to make it to CSA’s November Showcase. What a night.
It seems like just yesterday I was talking with Chuck for the first time at the Ruby Tuesday open mic. But that was almost two years ago. At the time, Chuck was in a tricky place with work and living. He mentioned that he was thinking about making a run at music, because music was one of the few things that was keeping him going. Being a self proclaimed hillbilly from Southern Ohio, he wasn’t sure if he could do it. I told him he could, and invited him to be apart of the songwriting community that was growing in Columbus.
About 18 months later, Chuck had performed in a dozen CSA showcases, sharing new songs, and telling deep and sometimes dark stories about the truth of his family history. He called me up, and told me he was working on a record in Bluegrass country near Paintsville, Kentucky. I told him I wanted to see it for myself, so we hit the road.
The studio was called Jack’s Tracks, set in a tree house in Wittensville, Kentucky. From the outside, it had all the signs of a home studio, but inside was a high-end setup with an engineer, Jack Priode, who works with dozens of underground and mainstream Bluegrass and Rock artists.
Chuck Williams is set to release his new album in the next month! Make sure to add him on FB for announcements about upcoming releases and shows.
columbussongwritersassociation.com 
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