Schedule
thursday, September 11, 2025 from 5:00 - 9:00 PM (Music Maker Fundraiser Dinner)
Friday, September 12, 2025 from 5:30-6:30 PM (Blues Stage)
Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 10:00 pm (Juke Joints - Sheridan Opera House)
Sunday, September 14, 2025 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm (Campground Sessions)
We present to you, Earl “Guitar” Williams. He must have always known he’d be a blues guitarist, because, at the age of seven, he made his own guitar by using a cigar box, broomstick, and fishing cord. That was the beginning, and he has never looked back. He leaned in on his music education by hanging out at Gip’s place, a juke joint in his hometown of Bessemer, Alabama, soaking up influences from the musicians who plied the Chitlin’ circuit.
As a member of the Music Maker Foundations Blues Revue, he provides guitar chops to a rotating band of players, each one contributing to the musical feast that pours from the stage. At the Salt and Pepper Roots Music Celebration in 2023, Earl represented the blues genre, a sweet little set captured by PBS for live broadcast. The blues, he says is music that taps into the deepest part of a person.
“The slow blues … it can help you go deep inside and express your innermost feelings. If you’ve been hurt really bad, it’s good old crying music.”
Earl not only styles onstage, but also keeps clients at his hair salon in Birmingham looking tight. While styling hair, he makes a connection with each client, folks he says are a source of inspiration for his songwriting. We’re proud to have this artist of both music and hairstyles play in our mountains.