One of the strongest guitarists in contemporary folk, South Carolina native Jack Williams writes music born at the meeting ground of the traditional and the contemporary. Finely honed over his four-decades-long professional career, Jack's original southern American songwriting draws deeply from the eclectic well of our musical heritage, with hints of Stephen Foster, Jimmie Rodgers, and Hoagy Carmichael.

Jack's fusion of strikingly original poetry, fluid guitar fingerpicking, weathered tenor voice, and arresting stage presence is loaded with influences from a long and successful career in jazz, classical, rock, blues, country, and folk -- but none resonates more strongly than his own deep sense of soul. He recently released the CD Laughing in the Face of the Blues (Wind River).

Poet Tim Mason, opens tonight's show.