Need some funk, folk and nasty acoustic all in one? Yes, Keller Williams, everyone’s favorite one-man band, brought nearly three hours of fresh acoustic funk to the Music Farm April 9.
Normally Williams brings bigger numbers to the Farm, but the crowd wouldn’t have it any other way. There was just enough room between shoulders to spark a conversation between songs, plenty of room at the bar and even a clear path to the bathroom.
Williams is on tour promoting his new album, “Odd,” and his audience is pretty diverse, bringing the dreaded, croakied, collared, tattooed, young, old and middle aged alike. Why? Simply put, he has something for everybody, whether it is through raw technical acoustic songs or working the synth and drum loop before adding some deep bass.
Williams delivered both sets large, handing out a plethora of his own tracks spanning all of his albums like the crowd-pleasing “Birds of a Feather” and a few covers like “Fire on the Mountain” and “Scarlet Begonias” of the Grateful Dead, as well as a funky yet folky rendition of “Staying Alive” that would have kept the Bee Gee’s moving.
The stage is a pentagon of instruments, each a separate medium through which Williams brings his audible vision to audiences’ ears. The bass, synth, drum loop, electric guitar and acoustic-electric at the helm with the microphone each serve their purpose in the show.
Unless he’s hitting you with just the acoustic and vocals on a folk number, Williams sets music up in stages in the loop. Speaking of the loop, let me break it down.
Stage one: Set the beat.  No, not on the drum loop. While jamming an acoustic progression, Williams sets the tone for his tracks with a vocal or beat box loop, just to get the crowd moving.
Stage two: Enhance the beat. He sways over to the drum machine and gives the beat more depth. The crowd’s motion expands with the beat.
Stage three: Lay down the line. Williams hops over to the bass, adds two earthy measures to the loop. The crowd really starts to feel it, mainly in the chest.
Stage four: Tweak and freak it. He slides over to the synth and plays around for a bit, possibly just for fun or probably to achieve the perfect loop. The crowd cheers, and they know this one’s for them.
Stage five: Show the soul. Williams makes his way to the electric guitar. It doesn’t feel neglected, knowing he saves the best for last. He explains the real nature of the song through it; you feel what he felt when he wrote it. The crowd cheers endlessly.
Stage six: repeat, repeat, repeat. The crowd repeats too. Now hooked by his stylings, they go home after the encore, ears still ringing from the show, and find out where to see him next.