If you go
› What: Jason D. Williams at Riverfront Nights.› When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27; The Sullivan Band opens at 7 p.m.› Where: Ross’s Landing, 150 Riverfront Parkway.› Admission: Free.› Phone: 423-756-2211.› Website: www.riverfrontnights.com.
Jason D. Williams discography
1989: “Tore Up”1993: “Wild”2004: “Rock All Night,” “Don’t Get None Onya”2010: “Killer Instincts”2014: “Hillbillies and Holy Rollers”
The opener
Sullivan Band is a party cover band whose members hail from Dayton and Chattanooga. Their influences range from the Allman Brothers Band to ZZ Top. Members are Matt Sullivan (vocals, lead guitar), Jeremiah Sullivan (vocals, bass guitar), Bobby Sullivan (vocals, keyboards), Debbie Sullivan (vocals) and Gary Shelton (rhythm guitar).
Pity the piano tuner who keeps Jason D. Williams' baby grands in working order.
The Arkansas native known for attacking the ivories while assuming various acrobatic positions - handstands, backward, forward, sideways, upside down, lying down and even standing on the keys, all while keeping a rollicking beat - will be in Chattanooga Saturday, Aug. 27, to close out the Riverfront Nights concert series at Ross's Landing.
Though Williams may be best known for his rockabilly sensibilities, he can use every one of those 88 keys to coax out elements of blues, jazz, country, rock 'n' roll, classical, gospel, folk and Americana music.
Williams cites Jerry Lee Lewis, Moon Mullican, Memphis Slim and Al Jolson as influences that helped him develop his vast repertoire and seemingly endless energy.
His wild style - he once tried to throw a piano off the stage at Riverbend - has drawn easy comparisons to Lewis' rambunctious reputation. Performer Todd Snider called him the "stone cold second coming of 'The Killer' himself."
An Associated Press writer noted: "Williams pounds the bejabbers out of the piano, whether he's playing honky-tonk, a Yiddish instrumental solo or Lewis' cover song."
Williams revels in the comparison.
"Jerry Lee Lewis is the greatest performer, entertainer and conveyor of music in the universe, and I consider it a compliment," he says on his website.
Their kindred style was solidified in the 1989 biopic about Lewis, "Great Balls of Fire." Dennis Quaid starred as the pioneering rock 'n' roller, but it was Williams who was used in the hand shots.
In his online bio, Williams says he been playing piano since age 3. He credits a "gifted teacher and classical performer," Roger Lawson, for his early lessons.
Williams was 16 when he left home to perform with rockabilly pioneer Sleepy LaBeef. He went solo in the 1980s and stumbled into a steady gig at Mallards in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, the bio says, after a snowstorm stranded him a few steps from the Peabody door and he went in and found the piano.