For 20 years, Fredericksburg-area musician Keller Williams has taken a break from his busy touring schedule to play an annual benefit for the Fredericksburg SPCA. The event has been held at many different venues over the years, including the old Holiday Inn at what is now Central Park, The Fredericksburg Field House, The Old Silk Mill and The Hard Times Cafe.
This year, the show returns to the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds, where Williams previously performed inside the long industrial buildings.
“The fairgrounds had some of the coolest years of this event,” Williams said. “So this year it’s back, but it’s outside under the pavilion. It’s rain or shine, it’s all ages, although we’re not pushing it towards the youth. I’ve always wanted to play that little stage under the pavilion.”
IF YOU GO
Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel, Saturday, Nov 1, Fredericksburg Fairgrounds, all ages, doors at 7 pm, Tickets $40, 12 and under $12.18.
Concert-goers can also come to the fairgrounds early to experience the Dead Whispers Haunted Attraction, which benefits the music education nonprofit Bill Carroll Foundation for musicians and veterans with disabilities.
The date of the SPCA benefit has also changed over the years based on William’s tour dates. This year, it coincides with another big SPCA event — the one-mile Walk for the Animals and Animal Rescue Festival in downtown Fredericksburg. The walk starts at 9:30 a.m. The festival, one of the organization’s standing fundraisers, is held from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Hurkamp Park.
“We get a bunch of rescue partners to bring adoptable animals there,” said Melanie Johnson, director of development for the Fredericksburg SPCA. “We’ve got vendors and all sorts of stuff. And then the ‘ARF-ter PAW-ty’ … is the Keller show. It’s going to be a crazy wild day with lots to do.”
Williams says he always looks forward to the annual homecoming gig.
“I love being able to bring what I have to offer to this town,” Williams said. “I put on the best show I can. It does mean a lot to me that it’s my hometown and I’m actually putting something on.”
Over the years, Williams has varied the groups he brings for the SPCA benefit, from solo performances with live looping to full bands with additional musicians and singers. This year, he returns with a group he brought to the 2011 benefit at the Fredericksburg Field House called More Than A Little. They will be playing a unique show titled “Grateful Gospel,” which combines elements of The Grateful Dead and gospel music.
(Photo by Gary Jared/All Good Now)
“The first thing — this is very important — is a disclaimer: this is not a Christian act,” Williams said. “This is a Grateful Dead & Jerry Garcia tribute in the sense that I’m taking the songs that Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead did that were on the spiritual side, and I put it together with the amazing group of musicians that I was able to play with from 2010 to 2012.
“Those folks, most of them were employed by churches on Sunday. So whenever we played on Saturday night, if we were within driving distance to Richmond, they would all take off and go to their church gigs on Sunday mornings. I was able to incorporate their talents of that Black gospel world and put them into my love of this music.”
Along with Williams, the group includes Toby Fairchild on drums, EJ Shaw on bass, Benjie Porecki on organ, Gibb Droll on guitar, and Mary Lankford and Therochelle Moore on vocals. The group recorded a live album and video this past Easter at the Greenfield Lake Amphitheater in Wilmington, N.C.
“We’re releasing the first six songs from that show,” Williams said. “It’s going to be a live release. We’re about three weeks into releasing one song every Sunday. The first two songs have been released already, and then the third will come and then, once we’ve released them all as singles, you’ll be able to hear it in its entirety.”
Keller Williams is joined by Toby Fairchild on drums and EJ Shaw on bass. (Photo by
Moonfrog Media.)
