Artists:David Williams & The Flat Irons

Fiction writer, singer-songwriter, cartoonist; gypsy jazz and blues guitarist, violinist, & mandolinist.

David Williams is a singer-songwriter, cartoonist, writer, and multi-instrumentalist, who plays guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. His musical influences include everything from gypsy jazz to delta blues to bluegrass and folk. As a singer-songwriter, he is known for his way with words, and his melodies, which conjure up the American musical landscape. His songs touch on everything from the difficulties of love to the people and places along old Route 66, to a carnival from his childhood, or to swing tunes reminiscent of Tin-Pan-Alley.

Over the years David h!s studied the passionate guitar work of the famed gypsy swing instrumentalist, Django Reinhardt, and David now infuses his own sets with elements of gypsy jazz: an infectious, lively musical mix of American swing with European gypsy shadings. David has added many of those tones to a number of his recent compositions that appear on his new album: "Where the Dark Road Starts: Songs of Love."

In the past, David has recorded and performed with people such as Greg Brown, Dave Moore, and he studied and performed with the great mandolinist Jethro Burns, of Homer and Jethro fame. In addition, David has performed at many of the large folk music festivals, such as Vancouver and Winnipeg, where he has been recognized for both his songwriting and instrumental work.

Besides his musical work, David is a working cartoonist, short story writer, and children's author with Random House. He has a Ph.D. in English, and he has been a writer in residence at a number of colleges and universities in the US. He has also written and recorded a number of award winning albums for kids, having written a few hundred songs about animals of every kind, all done in a bluesy, folk, swing style. In the Fall of 2005, his first book of short stories (an accompanying CD of new folk, Americana songs) will be released through Ghost Road Press, titled INDIAN BINGO, chronicling the characters in and around Joplin, MO, where David's family originated, and where he once lived as a child..