Master balladeer touches the heart
By Noel Lyn Smith
Navajo Times
KIRTLAND, N.M., July 7, 2011
(Special to the Times - Donovan Quintero)
Country legend Don Williams plays his guitar June 28 in Kirtland, N.M.
Williams opened his June 28 concert at the Brooks Isham Performing Arts Center here with the 1980 single off his album "Portrait."
His smooth, warm voice showed no sign of age but sounded just like the voice on the countless albums that span Williams' 40-year career as a storyteller in song.
Wearing his trademark weathered Stetson, a light blue shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, Williams sat on a chair on a riser at center stage with a guitar and a microphone.
Before singing "Heartbeat in the Darkness," Williams mentioned he'd played before in the Four Corners area and it was good to return.
Fan clapped along in time to the song as Williams tapped his left foot.
"Man, you all are something else," he said of the audience's warm reception.
Williams shared the stage with a five-piece band comprised of Tyson Rogers (keyboards), Billy Sanford (electric guitar and mandolin), John Garner (drums and percussion), Matt McKenzie (bass) and Mike Noble (electric and acoustic guitar).
At 72, his voice still coaxes the maximum feeling from songs like "Back in My Younger Days," "If Hollywood Don't Need You," "Rake and Ramblin' Man," "It Must Be Love," "Amanda," and "Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good."
His common touch was evident during his occasional pauses to talk to the audience.
"So everything been pretty good around here?" he asked. "No one has been threatened by any fires?"
"Not yet," said more than one audience member.
"No floods, earthquakes? Well, I hope there's nothing that threatens you at all except something good," Williams said.
After singing "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" Williams took a sip from the travel mug sitting nearby.
"Is that coffee, Don?" someone asked from the audience.
"It is coffee and that is all," Williams replied, which generated laughter. Then he launched into "She's in Love with a Rodeo Man."
Among the song requests fans shouted during the show were "Down the Road," "Listen to the Radio" and "Tulsa Time," which won Williams the 1978 Country Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year award and was also named single of the year.
"We got so much time. If we go beyond that, they'll break my legs. So we're going to get every one of them in there that we possibly can," Williams said.
In 2006 Williams announced his farewell tour but returned to the stage last fall and for audiences like this one, the absence has only made the heart grow fonder.
"It's about time you got back up there!" an audience member shouted.
At another point in the show, another fan said, "From one Don to another, I'm glad to see you."
"And I'm glad to see you. I'm glad to see every one of you," Williams said.
Among the audience of 800 were Tom and Lucy Charley of Shiprock. Both are longtime fans and this was their first time seeing him live in concert, thanks to tickets purchased by their daughter Pecita.
"She surprised us with two tickets," Lucy said as she sat in her seventh row seat.
Weeks before the show, the couple saw advertisements for the concert in local newspapers and on a billboard in Farmington.
"I was looking forward to it since we heard he was coming," Lucy said.
Before the show, Lucy noticed that Williams' name was spotlighted on both sides of the stage. She watched the audience of all ages enter the venue.
"It's a beautiful turnout, I think every seat in the house is sold out and everybody is patiently waiting," Lucy said.
She was right: The show was sold out.
Later, as Williams sang "You're My Best Friend," Lucy held Tom's hand and sang along to the lyrics, "You're my friend when I'm hungry. You're my shelter from troubled winds. You're my anchor in life's ocean but most of all, you're my best friend."
"He is my best friend," she said of her husband.
After watching Williams exit the stage, she summed up the experience as "a dream come true, I thought it was really nice."
Local musician Norm Fenton opened the show with a set that included covers and original music.
"I couldn't stay focused. I kept thinking about what I'm going to play next," Fenton said.
Despite feeling nervous, it was an honor to play before Williams, he said.
Prior to that, Farmington radio personality Tommy "Hoss" Bolack took the microphone and briefly recapped Williams' career.
Bolack, who hosts the "Kiss Country Classic Bonanza" on 97.9 KISS FM, held up a 45-vinyl single of the 1966 hit "Time" by the folk-pop group the Pozo Seco Singers, of which Williams was a member.
On the B-side, as Bolack noted, is the song "Down the Road I Go" written by D. Williams.
After Pozo Seco disbanded in 1970, Williams embarked on a songwriting career, then left music to make furniture, but he eventually signed with JMI Records, Bolack explained.
"I don't know about you folks but I'm glad he went back into music," Bolack said.
From the warm audience reception and sold-out concert, it's clear that plenty of folks around here agreed with that sentiment.
