William Adams Kimbrough (born May 1, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer based in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, Tennessee.

Biography

Kimbrough was born in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

, and started his musical career as a founding member of Will & the Bushmen, a popular college band in the eighties that produced a handful of albums and singles and made it to

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. He then went on to form the Bis-Quits with long-time friend Tommy Meyer. The Bis-quits produced an

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

album which was released on

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

’s

Oh Boy Records Oh Boy Records is an independent American record label founded in 1981 by singer John Prine, his manager Al Bunetta, and their friend Dan Einstein. The label has released more than 40 audio and video recordings by singer-songwriters Prine, Kris ...

label. Kimbrough is also a producer and has produced albums for

Adrienne Young Adrienne Adeana Young is an American Charlottesville, Virginia-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She is founder and operator of AddieBelle Music which produces her recordings. History A native of Tallahassee, Florida, in ...

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

Todd Snider Todd Daniel Snider (born October 11, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter whose music incorporates elements of folk, rock, blues, alt country, and funk. Early career Todd Snider was born in Portland, Oregon, but was raised in nearby Beave ...

Kate Campbell Jamae Kathryn Campbell (born October 31, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Kate's songwriting follows in the southern literary tradition with an emphasis on a sense of place, race, and religion. Her story-f ...

Steve Poltz Steve Poltz (born February 19, 1960) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is a founding member of the indie-rock band The Rugburns and collaborated on several songs with singer Jewel, including the 1996 single " You Were ...

Kim Richey Kimberly Richey (born December 1, 1956) is an American singer and songwriter. Career Kim Richey came onto the music scene in the 1990s and entered her first recording contract at the age of 37. Kim signed with Mercury Nashville. She spent the n ...

Garrison Starr Garrison Starr (born Julia Garrison Starr on April 29, 1975) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter/producer. Her major label debut, "18 Over Me" was released in 1997 (Geffen). Starr's shows have been described as "marrying pop smarts ...

, Matthew Ryan, and

Josh Rouse Josh Rouse (born March 9, 1972) is an American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter. Originally from Nebraska, Rouse began his recording career in Nashville in 1998 and later relocated to Spain. In 2014, Rouse won a Spanish Goya Film Award in the c ...

. His songs have been recorded by

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving ...

Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Although ...

and more. Kimbrough has also collaborated with many artists including

Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, Johnny Cash's first wife. Although she is often classified as a country art ...

Guy Clark Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet ...

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

, Gomez,

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

The Jayhawks The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene in the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists/guitarists/songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson (musician), Mark Olson, their country rock ...

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

Buddy Miller Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller. ...

, Toumani Diabate,

, Matthew Ryan,

Billy Joe Shaver Billy Joe Shaver (August 16, 1939 – October 28, 2020) was an American outlaw country singer and songwriter, as well as an actor. Biography Shaver was born in Corsicana, Texas, and raised by his mother, Victory Watson Shaver. Until he was 12 ...

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Durin ...

, and others. Kimbrough was recognized in 2004 as the Instrumentalist of the Year by the

Americana Music Association The Americana Music Association is a not-for-profit trade organization advocating for American Roots Music around the world. It is a network for Americana artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others with the goal of developi ...

– an award that had previously been awarded three years in a row to Dobro ace

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. Career In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he has ...

. His songs demonstrate a literate facility that he pairs with guitar playing so fluid that his fans created a t-shirt suggesting he's an alien. Kimbrough teamed up with

Tommy Womack Tommy Womack (born November 20, 1962 in Sturgis, Kentucky) is an American singer-songwriter and author. Career Early endeavors Womack played with the band Government Cheese from 1985 to 1992. He wrote an engaging memoir about this experience cal ...

, John Deaderick, Paul Griffith and Dave Jacques in 2005 to create the five piece band, Daddy. They recorded a live album in Frankfort, Kentucky ''Daddy at the Women's Club'' and later an album called ''For a Second Time''. In 2007, Kimbrough released EP – his solo studio recording that revealed a hint of what would develop on his next full-length release. Kimbrough has released several solo albums to date, and has collaborated on many more, as well as serving as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

and

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo ...

. Kimbrough was one of the guest artists at Jimmy Buffett's Live from the Gulf Coast Concert on July 11, 2010. In March 2012, it was announced that Kimbrough had joined

Trigger Hippy Trigger Hippy is an American rock music, rock band composed of former Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, bassist Nick Govrik, guitarist/singer Ed Jurdi, and singer Amber Woodhouse. History The group was initially formed as a casual collaboration ...

in place of guitarist Audley Freed. In frequent visits to visit his family, Kimbrough joined a number of other Southern Alabama singer-songwriters beginning in 2013 to form Willie Sugarcapps.

Influences

Born and raised on the Alabama Gulf Coast, Kimbrough ingested eclectic FM radio sounds and the music of nearby

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

as a young man. His sound has been influenced by traditions of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

, punk rock and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. Will Kimbrough described "When Your Lovin' Comes Around" from his 2014 release, Sideshow Love, as "a little bit of a tribute to JJ Cale," who he said was a significant influence on his music.from an interview o
episode 178 of the Americana Music Show
released February 10, 2014

Social commentary

The songs on his album ''Americanitis'', such as "Warring Ways" and "Everyone's in Love", have been described by Kimbrough as anti-war and anti-greed themed. His album ''Wings'' explores themes surrounding the conflicts between family and career, love and work, parents and children. The music is based in

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

, with touches of guitar, cello, saxophone, trumpet, banjo, and

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

Discography

Solo albums

*''Fireworks, Vol. 2'' (1999) *''This'' (2000) *''Home Away'' (2002) *''Godsend'' (2003) *''Americanitis'' (2006) *''EP'' (2007) *''Wings'' (2009) *''Sideshow Love'' (2014) *''I Like It Down Here'' (2019)

References

External links

Official SiteDaddy Band SiteWill Kimbrough collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive
Willie Sugarcapps site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimbrough, Will American male singer-songwriters American rock songwriters Musicians from Mobile, Alabama American rock singers 1964 births Living people Singer-songwriters from Alabama