Maybe it’s appropriate that the Colonel Williams House Band formed in a historic home in a bucolic area just outside of downtown Knoxville. There’s something homey and familiar about the band’s music. The songs are sturdy and well-crafted. The music is warm and comfortable without a hint of trendiness. There’s a lot of folk, a little rock, and a whole lot of the kind of sincere country that seems almost forgotten.
The band started when A-list Knoxville bassist Stirling Walsh decided he’d like a band to perform on a Knoxville radio show. Walsh knew he needed a set of original songs, so he reconnected with Chris Sizemore, an old music friend from high school, who had just begun writing tunes. When the musicians that Walsh assembled at his apartment in the Colonel Williams House heard Sizemore’s songs, they knew that this band had to become their priority.
The Colonel Williams House Band is made up of Chris Sizemore on acoustic guitar and vocals, Stirling Walsh on bass, Adam Cavender on mandolin, Jason Hanna on electric guitar and Chris Bratta on drums. All but Sizemore have been featured players in acclaimed Knoxville bands for years. The maturity shows in the band’s tasteful playing. It’s sweet, but never too flashy.
The songs on the band’s debut album, “Keepsakes,” are full of emotions that are easy to relate to and depict an America that almost seems like a lost dream. Give it a listen. You won’t regret it.
Wayne Bledsoe
Host of WDVX’s “All Over the Road” and “The 6 O’Clock Swerve” and co-author of “Arthur Q. Smith: The Trouble With the Truth”