Album Notes

BIG FISH LITTLE FISH, Williams' first children's CD, was released in 2000 and soon added to a program of the Jane Goodall Institute. In 2004 NBC's Sunday Today aired "Swimming In The Swimming Pool" and in 2005 "Snowboardin'." In 2008 FOX TV used "Swimming In The Swimming Pool" on an episode of "Til Death."
"...Williams has a terrific singing voice...a very good album..." said SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. "...an easygoing, feel-good collection... Guitar, banjo, strings, accordion and percussion... skillfully woven throughout, adding appeal to the proceedings. All ages," wrote PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
Williams' second album for kids, UNCLE ROBOT: SONG FOR YOUNG FAMILIES, won similar praise in 2003.

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, nonfiction innovator, novelist, poet - and most recently playwright - Williams broke onto the music scene in 1985 with his first album, LIVING AT THE END OF TIME. Ken Tucker, now of Entertainment Weekly and radio's Fresh Air, wrote: "First-rate compositions... Williams sings his song in a warm, sexy, wry tone, in a voice that has felt the influence of everyone from Hank Snow to John Sebastian." "It's A Pleasure To Know You" has been covered on Rounder, Flying Fish, and many other labels over the years, and SingOut! Magazine called the song "...something of a classic."

In the 90s Williams began writing for the Nashville market. "Mile Marker Ten" was a big success for the band Shucks. Williams' songs have been picked up by BMG, Crossfield, Clyde Otis, and Flagship Music.

At the same time, with songs like "Speaking For Ourselves" and "People First," Williams has provided a kind of soundtrack for the daily struggle of the self-advocacy movement (people with cognitive disabilities working for respect and for their rights). Williams' CD RESPECT: SONGS OF THE SELF-ADVOCACY MOVEMENT was a candidate for Best Contemporary Folk Album in the 1998 Grammy Awards. Williams' work with the movement earned him ASCAP Awards two years running. And in May, 2003 he translated and performed some of his songs at the German national People First Conference.

In 1999 Williams' CD-single "To the New Century," a hard-edged anthem featuring toasts in 17 languages, was picked up by radio stations around the world. The story of the song's travels now appears in Bruce Pollock's "Working Musicians" (HarperCollins, 2002).

With two as-told-to autobiographies (done with leaders in the self-advocacy movement); a play and a film (now in production), both based on one of these works; another play performed at the 2005 Philadelphia Fringe Festival; short stories presented by the Writing Aloud Series of Philadelphia's InterAct Theatre Company; an autobiographical novel (unpublished); a recently completed third as-told-to book, this one with a graphic artist who has autism - SingOut! Magazine's comment on one of Williams' early songs might suit the man himself:
"Something of a classic..."