The Vern Williams Band
Band · Active 1981–present · Stockton, California
Classic Country
Old-Time (Traditional)
The Vern Williams Band was the powerhouse Northern California bluegrass group led by Arkansas-born mandolinist-vocalist Vern Williams — the man whose Ozark-rooted high-lonesome voice did more than anyone else to establish bluegrass on the West Coast. Their 1981 Rounder album Bluegrass from the Gold Country and their backing work for country legend Rose Maddox placed the band at the center of California bluegrass history.
- Vern Williams (born Delbert Lavern Williams, December 9, 1930, Newton County, Arkansas — d. June 6, 2006) was drafted into the Marines in 1952, served at Twentynine Palms, and settled in Stockton, California afterward, bringing Arkansas mountain music with him.
- Co-led the legendary Vern and Ray duo with fiddler Ray Park (1960–1974) — one of the most successful bluegrass acts in Northern California. Their Arhoolie album Vern and Ray with Herb Pedersen: San Francisco (1968) became a landmark.
- Vern and Ray broke up in 1974 after the strained recording of Sounds from the Ozarks (Old Homestead).
- Williams formed the Vern Williams Band in the mid-1970s with son Delbert Williams (guitar), fiddler Ed Neff, banjoist-singer Keith Little, and bassist Kevin Thompson. Booked into the first California Bluegrass Association Grass Valley Festival in 1976.
- Signed with Rounder Records in 1980. Bluegrass from the Gold Country (Rounder 0131, 1981) became one of the most influential California bluegrass recordings — recorded at Bay Studios in Berkeley after Ken Irwin heard demos made in Vern's kitchen.
- Backed country legend Rose Maddox on two Arhoolie albums: This Is Rose Maddox (also titled Rose of the West Coast Country, 1981) and A Beautiful Bouquet (1983). Rose Maddox was known as “the Queen of the West” and was the first woman to record a bluegrass album (Rose Maddox Sings Bluegrass, Capitol 1962).
- Touring never reached the East Coast — the band's geographic isolation limited its national profile. One critic described the Vern Williams Band's regional standing as comparable to “the respect Flatt & Scruggs received during the late '40s.”
- Band broke up in 1986. Keith Little went on to the Country Gentlemen, Ricky Skaggs's band, and eventually the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience. Ed Neff remained a fixture on the Northern California scene.
- Live recordings from 1982–1988 were compiled as Traditional Bluegrass (Arhoolie, 2004).
- Over his career Williams worked with and mentored Jerry Garcia, Herb Pedersen, Laurie Lewis, Peter Wernick, Sandy Rothman, and Rick Shubb — all of whom passed through the Vern Williams or Vern and Ray orbit.
- Laurie Lewis described playing with Williams as “being in heaven, with the best seat in the house for that scraped-clean, unvarnished sound.” Williams retired from performing in the late 1990s due to failing health; died in 2006.
-
Bald Knob ArkansasTraditional Bluegrass (2004)
-
Oh SusannaBluegrass From the Gold Country (1981)
-
Ed NeffPlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Keith LittlePlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Vern WilliamsPlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Kevin ThompsonPlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Delbert WilliamsPlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Del WillaimsPlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Del WilliamsPlayed on recordings with The Vern Williams Band
-
Kevin LittlePlayed on recording with The Vern Williams Band