Progressive bluegrass-influenced acoustic band of experienced players. Heartfelt tunes, beautiful arrangements and clean, tasty playing. Special guests include Aubrey Haynie and Scott Vestal. "A very talented, versatile band. Very good listening..." Blueg

12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Traditional Folk, COUNTRY: Bluegrass



Details:
"A very talented, versatile band" - Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine.

VTW is a musical family of friends. We've been playing together for many years to bring to light the music that moves us and hopefully our listeners. What we play is influenced by an amazing spectrum of musicians and styles from Dr. Ralph Stanley to Pat Metheny. From David Grisman to Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. We are drawn to tunes like a magnet that project for us a sense of belonging to the players and hopefully the listeners.

The original tunes of Gabe and Lon are a truly wonderful and powerful addition to our stage performances as well as our debut recording. Special guests include Aubrey Haynie and Scott Vestal.

Valla Turner Williamson is Gabriel Valla on guitar, Greg Turner on mandolin, Lis Williamson on rhythm guitar and Lon Williamson on upright bass. Gabe, Lis and Lon provide the vocals.

Gabriel Valla is a multi-talented performer with many laudable credits to his young career. He won the Merle Watson Festival Flatpicking Championship over ten years ago and has only honed his already formidable skills since then, writing many great original tunes featured most recently on the recordings of Scott Anderson and Larry Rice as well as on the VTW release. He has a great voice which brings warmth to the stage whether singing a lead or adding a harmony.

Greg Turner on mandolin is a veteran performer with an exacting and beautiful style on his instrument. He adds a lot of excitement to the VTW stage performance with his expertly executed runs and creative leads. Some of Greg's mandolin influences are Sam Bush, David Grisman, Adam Steffey and Larry Rice to name a few. Greg's musical tastes run the gamut from Bluegrass to Swing, Folk, Acoustic, Jazz and Dawg music.

Lis and Lon Williamson provide the strong rhythmic groundwork behind Valla Turner Williamson. Lis plays rhythm guitar and frails the banjo in the band as well as sings lead and harmony vocals. Her guitar style adds a percussive quality to some of the cuts and is complimentary to the other instruments. Lon's smooth style on the upright bass provides the grounding force, which drives the VTW sound. His honest voice tells it like it is on the great original tunes he contributes to the new VTW recording.

Jason Thomas has been appearing with VTW for quite a while now and his extraordinary fiddling has been a wonderful addition to the live performance of the group.