We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Paul Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with paul below.
Paul, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Gods and Heroes: The Musical. In the middle of my career, soon after co-founding State Fair Records, I did a two year stint teaching audio production and music business at Booker T Washington HSPVA. I had been primarily producing other artists the few years prior, and being in that environment, around all those creative (even genius) young people really ignited something in me. One night I had a dream about what came to be the basic storyline for Gods and Heroes, a rock and roll fairy tale musical that I began formulating back in 2017, writing a few of the songs that are in the play. I began writing the book in the winter of 2021 and had the first staged read in ’22. Although I haven’t produced a fully realized version yet, I hope to one day. The story is a Rip Van Winkle type tale of a musician who falls asleep for twenty years, waking in the modern world. The context of the story is the way technology has in many ways ruined the music business and the art world more broadly and has not improved the lives of artist, quite the opposite in fact. This is a large part of my lived experience, though I’ve been fortunate to make a living in music. But this is mainly just the frame for Gods and Heroes. The story is ultimately about healing our trauma through service to others, which is an important concept to me.
Paul, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I began playing guitar in bands back in the 1990s. My band Tablet signed a record deal with Mercury records at the time. We broke up a few years later and I transitioned into engineering and producing full time around 2000. I have continued to play in various bands off and on over the years, but now focus on producing and writing.
As far as writing and recording go, I can take the seed of an idea and grow it into a fully formed flower, nurturing it through every step whether in collaboration or on my own as needed: writing, arranging, engineering, recording, coaching best performances, producing, playing, mixing, programming, etc… And I am comfortable operating in most musical genres, though rock and roll, pop, and funk are my favs.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
After my band broke up, before I made the full transition into engineering and producing, I had a rough stretch financially. I was living in a tiny apartment in deep ellum, in Dallas. I had to take on a couple of rather unglamorous jobs for a spell. I remember wrapping up pennies so I could buy some beer. But I kept digging, head down, writing new songs and learning how to make some decent demos on my 4 track tape machine. The demos paid off eventually, not in a record deal, but in getting an internship at the studio where I soon became head engineer, launching my production career.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
My view on NFTs are that they seem foolish and I couldn’t care less.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://paulwilliamsproductions.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/godsandheroesthemusical?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=52356JEj6kqfAkKR&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2F1Abc9FBdxR%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr#
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/5ZotqmA1yqeJQ3KXDz369Z?si=qrNiHR7MQqSOrgaSnvhILw
Image Credits
Catherine Cuellar.
Paul Williams