The saying “Two’s Company; three’s a crowd” may be true in some circumstances, but when long-time music and marriage partners Jeanette and Johnny Williams teamed up with Jay Shelton to form Shelton and Williams, three made a perfect combination. On Wednesday, September 13, the Danville, VA, trio was joined on the iconic Station Inn stage by Thomas Cassell on mandolin and Don Hill on banjo for what turned out to be quite an international crowd in the Gulch.
They played cuts from their 2022 album So Much Time, So Much Love, as well as songs from their individual projects. Both award-winning songwriters, Johnny and Jeanette played several of their original songs, “Cherry Blossoms in the Springtime,” “Helping Hand” and “Father’s Hands.”
Talking about how they joined forces with Shelton, the Williamses explained that he had started in bluegrass but had gone on to play country and rock before.
Shelton added, “They brought me back to my senses.”
“Come on home,” Johnny told him, a segueway to the title track from Shelton’s 2019 album Home.
The evening was marked by the group’s bluegrass treatment of a wide range of music. They put a bluegrass spin on the Old Time classic “Going Down That Long Lonesome Road,” as well their take on Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s “Wasted on the Way.” Jeanette showcased Peggy Lee’s big band classic “It’s a Good Day.”
They featured Cassell on “Camptown Races,” and paid tribute to the late Bill Monroe, on what would have been his 112th birthday, noting that Hill had played with the Father of Bluegrass every Tuesday and Wednesday night as a high school student. They kicked off with “Kentucky Waltz,” followed by the instrumental classic, “Big Mon,” showcasing the instrumental chops of everyone on stage. They also acknowledged the recent loss of Bobby Osborne, singing “Lonesome Day.”
The three members of the band swapedp off leads, with Johnny Williams delivering his high lonesome sound on his original acapella “new old” gospel song “I’ve Made It Home,” with Jeanette and Jay providing the harmony. Shelton took the lead on a couple of Guy Clark songs—“Magnolia Wind,” (co-written with Shawn Camp) and “Black Diamond Strings.” They also performed “Steel Rails” with a nod to songwriter Louisa Branscomb and to Alison Krauss who performed it for her on the same Station Inn stage.
Jeanette Williams explained that mentioning the writers of the songs they perform is important to them. They pointed out that the songwriters often go unacknowledged.
The variety of the sets gave every opportunity to showcase the tight three-part harmony that sets Shelton and Williams apart. They performed their rendition of “Wait a Minute,” from their album, and closed with what Jeanette said was one of their most requested songs from that project. For “the ladies in the house,” they closed with Donna Summer’s “I Will Survive”—with a good dose of bluegrass.
https://sheltonandwilliams.com