Allison Williams in the UK

American clawhammer banjo player Allison Williams is over in the UK and is putting in her last few appearances before heading over to Knoxville, TN. You can catch her tonight at Willesdon Folk Union, London, playing with renowned fiddle player Rachel Eddy of Uncle Earl.

Alison Williams hails from the Arkansas Ozarks and was a punk rock musician before rediscovering her musical roots. Several years in the mountains of North Carolina educated her in Southern banjo styles, especially the fast, distinctive styles of Hobart Smith and Wade Ward.

In 2005 she formed the Forge Mountain Diggers who have featured on Folk Radio UK, a hard-driving oldtime band, with Freight Hoppers fiddler David Bass. The Diggers toured internationally for three years, sharing stages with Rhonda Vincent, Donna the Buffalo, and many other giants of the new roots music scene.

Allison Williams’ solo CD Give Me the Roses came out in autumn of 2008, featuring driving arrangements of traditional old-time songs, as well as eclectic originals, woven together by a talented backing band of rising stars: alumni of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the Wiyos, among others.

Since then she has toured internationally, playing to a sold-out Barbican Hall in London, as part of the BBC’s “Folk America” special (see below).

Now based in Tennessee, Allison, when not on the road, does live and studio sound, works with Southern folklore, and plays with the Jake Leg Stompers jug band.