ABOUT THE BAND
The Williamson Family Band lives in Stillwater, OK, and includes parents, Randy and Jill Williamson with children: Jacob on upright bass, Nick and Tyler on brass, Samantha and Grace on vocals, violin, fiddle, guitar and mandolin, Andrew on cello, and, the youngest sister, Elizabeth beginning to work on vocals, violin and mandolin.
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Our musical blended sound is classical and woven with hymns, three-part harmony, classical strings, Irish, bluegrass, Southern Gospel, Americana tunes and some old time fiddling.
The family band performed in the 2013 Silver Dollar City KMSU Youth in Bluegrass competition, competing amongst 20 of the best up and coming youth bluegrass bands. Samantha Williamson is the state of Oklahoma 2013 Junior Fiddle champion and the 2013 Oklahoma Music Olympics 8th grade and under classical violin winner. She is also the overall Keith Strings winner for 2013. Samantha and Grace are Oklahoma International Bluegrass scholarship recipients on fiddle for 2012 and 2013. Both girls have taken the stage with renowned world class fiddler Byron Berline of Guthrie during his Double Stop Fiddle Shop Saturday night shows. Berline asked Samantha to twin fiddle with him in a show last summer. They played “Jerusalem Ridge” with Samantha on first fiddle and Berline second fiddle to her with the crowd hopping and hollering in the middle of the performance.
“Making music together as a family is rewarding but can also be hard work. As a large family unit and at the same time being nine individuals, we have busy schedules that take us in different directions. With several of our family members so young and one in college at Oklahoma State University, not everyone is always in the mood at the same time to make a joyful noise together. The whole family agrees; however, that when we have a good sound that we create together, it is very rewarding, even if it just happens in the living room and no one hears it but us! We find joy in sharing our music with others even though it is never perfect. As parents of the family band, we do not feel that the kids need to wait until they are adults or professional “enough” to share their God-given abilities and talents. We hope that by sharing our music with our imperfections and all, others might be inspired. We hope that our music points others to finding out how they can receive true joy in this life by knowing the Lord through Jesus Christ.” - Jill Williamson
The family band performed in the 2013 Silver Dollar City KMSU Youth in Bluegrass competition, competing amongst 20 of the best up and coming youth bluegrass bands. Samantha Williamson is the state of Oklahoma 2013 Junior Fiddle champion and the 2013 Oklahoma Music Olympics 8th grade and under classical violin winner. She is also the overall Keith Strings winner for 2013. Samantha and Grace are Oklahoma International Bluegrass scholarship recipients on fiddle for 2012 and 2013. Both girls have taken the stage with renowned world class fiddler Byron Berline of Guthrie during his Double Stop Fiddle Shop Saturday night shows. Berline asked Samantha to twin fiddle with him in a show last summer. They played “Jerusalem Ridge” with Samantha on first fiddle and Berline second fiddle to her with the crowd hopping and hollering in the middle of the performance.
“Making music together as a family is rewarding but can also be hard work. As a large family unit and at the same time being nine individuals, we have busy schedules that take us in different directions. With several of our family members so young and one in college at Oklahoma State University, not everyone is always in the mood at the same time to make a joyful noise together. The whole family agrees; however, that when we have a good sound that we create together, it is very rewarding, even if it just happens in the living room and no one hears it but us! We find joy in sharing our music with others even though it is never perfect. As parents of the family band, we do not feel that the kids need to wait until they are adults or professional “enough” to share their God-given abilities and talents. We hope that by sharing our music with our imperfections and all, others might be inspired. We hope that our music points others to finding out how they can receive true joy in this life by knowing the Lord through Jesus Christ.” - Jill Williamson