Paul Williams and Victory Trio - the real deal

Last Thursday, my mother and I attended a benefit singing that was held in the gymnasium at Anderson County high school in Clinton, TN. There were 4-groups singing; Rocky Flatts, Jerry Butler and the Blu-J's, Don Rigsby and Midnight Call, and Paul Williams and the Victory Trio. I have already written a blog posts about the entire night so this post is just to talk about the Paul Williams Trio. I have listened to Paul Williams' music for several years and knew that he was a superb singer and musician. I had never seen him perform in person and had no idea how spiritual he was. Being a minister of music myself, I was thrilled to see a group with such talent, dedicate their lives and music to the Lord. Sitting there in that gymnasium felt much like being in a really good church service. Shouts of Amen could be heard echoing off of the bleacher lined walls as Paul Williams would testify on stage. They sang for about an hour and every song was like listening to music from Heaven.

Paul plays the mandolin and sings a high tenor lead. He has a wonderful voice that is superbly suited for Bluegrass music. The entire band was excellent. Dan Moneyhun plays the lead guitar and sings, Adam Winstead also sings and plays the rhythm guitar, Jerry Keys plays the banjo, and his wife, Susie Keys plays the upright bass. Also with them that night was a young man from Athens, TN playing the fiddle. I can't recall his name but he did a great job.

Paul also had 2 special guests step up to the microphone, the first one was local Bluegrass/Gospel artist, Mavis Hughes, who had written a song that Paul Williams had recorded and he asked her to come up and sing it with them. Wow, talk about a voice! She reared back and let it rip, nearly bringing me to my feet with a shout. Then Paul asked the concert host, Randy Smiddy, to come to the stage. Randy sang 2-songs with them and he did a wonderful job. He has a very nice, rich baritone voice and was a delight to listen to. I know it was a thrill for him to sing on stage with Paul Williams and Victory Trio.

One of the deacons at my church has been trying to get me to book Paul Williams at our church for the past 3-years. I actually came close to achieving that about 2-years ago but the only date they had available was right before Christmas and we just had too much going on at the church to do that. After seeing and hearing them in person, I will go the extra mile to book them now. I'm thinking a Saturday evening concert might work out better than a Sunday booking. I'll keep you posted about that.

See all of the pictures from this event HERE.