February 6, 2009

This wasn’t Guitar Center or Musicians Warehouse or any of the other large corporate owned multi-instrument behemoth, this was your friendly neighborhood guitar shop. With a dazzling array of guitars hung to a basic pegboard backdrop, a cash register, “No Stairway To Heaven” – an ode to Wayne’s World – and “Shoplifters Will Die” signs, the stage was set for America’s favorite “one man jam-band” to take the stage.

[All photos by Megan Case]

The lights fell at 8:45 p.m. and Keller’s Guitar Shop & Clinic opened for business. Its chief proprietor, Keller Williams, ambled to center stage, with guitar in hand and a goofy grin on his face as a flurry of notes reverberated out of the Variety Playhouse’s speakers. Perhaps the most lovable and likeable acoustic axe man around, Keller’s unique sound and presentation are his hallmark; his clever, cheerful and upbeat grooves are his trademark. The sold-out show seemed relatively sparse when Keller started up, but slowly and surely filled in.

The first time I saw Keller back in ’99, I was absolutely blown away. He is able to combine his virtuosic guitar playing with bass lines, drum fills, beats, horns and keyboards looped through delay devices, which creates a thick pillow to either play, sing or solo over. The results are truly unique and often times sublime. Keller’s show on the last day of January in Atlanta was much of the same and that’s a good thing.

READ ON for more of Matt’s review of K-Dub at the Variety…