"It Ain't Easy is our Top Independent Release...Highly Recommended!"
Real Blues Magazine- August, 2009
Hard driving distorted guitar riffs...combine with furious shredding axe and gritty, just as furious lyrics. It doesn't take long to figure out this isn't your grandpa's blues act."
City Pages- 2009
"The driving guitar and beat are the hallmark of these rocking blues lads. Williams’ guitar licks are sweltering and the groove backing it makes your heart pump quickly...It’s non-stop action; the remaining tracks are equally hot and are just as much fun as the others!"
Blues Blast Magazine- 2009
“A mystical hoodoo spell drifts among Midwest bars and clubs; one of funk, blues and rock and roll: AARON WILLIAMS AND THE HOODOO...Prepare for the next wave of dizzying rattle of drums and intoxicating hum of blues guitars.”
Josh Miller- Maximum Ink
"Blues rock gods Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo. Aaron Williams —with his extraordinarily powerful voice and stage presence and cosmic drummer Eric Shackelford..."
Toledo City Paper- 2009
"Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo: you may or may not have heard of them, but you are definitely going to want to sit up and take notice because they are forging ahead with Blues Rock for a new generation with their debut album, It Ain't Easy."
Fulltime Blues- 2009
"Aaron Williams and his mastery of the guitar....made it hard to look away from the stage. Williams oozed cool and talent and made it impossible to not focus 100% of your whole being stage front."
Rob Kosmeder- Americana Gazette- 2009
"I was blown away that night, these guy's woke the dead....absolutely electrifying."
John McHenry-Blues 101- 2009
MAMA Award Nominee's 2008 & 2009-Best New Artist, Best Blues Album, Best Instrumentalist, Best Blues Song
"You guy's are the tightest, brightest band I've heard in a long time"
Uncle Jack Mckay- KSSS Rock 101- Bismarck, ND
"Kid, you got a real future in this business. Keep it up!"
Coco Montoya- International Blues Recording Artist
“Aaron and his crew know what it means to rock the blues, no doubt about that. With tasty guitar licks and deep grooves those guys can make a dead man move.”
Przemek Draheim- Blues Radio Sfera, Poland
These guy's are national act caliber all the way. Watch out for these guys..."
Steamer Productions- Bismarck, ND
"Aaron Williams on guitar, and he's a huge presence here, playing with a fluid finesse that belies his youth. Favoring a lean, clean sound, his solos are slinky and sly, bursting with ferocious jabs and explosive flurries. He also displays a mature intelligence in his comping behind Joe. I hear a lot of Ronnie Earl in his playing already . . . . Aaron has a future!"
John Taylor- Blues on Stage
Decades ago, before the first rock and roll idols turned music into a product, musicians played music the way cobbler’s mended shoes and carpenters built homes. It was a trade like any other job and men did it for work, for wage. Young men would pack their station wagons with gear and travel from city to city to play their songs. For these musicians, it was not only all they wanted to do but all they could do. They were not in search of fame or fortune. It was simply a life in music. Welcome to the world of Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo.
“It’s what we were meant to do, I have to get up every morning and play my music,” Williams says. “We load our own gear; we drive hours on end for one show. But if you want it, you have to be willing to bleed it.” William’s drive is second nature. He is what some refer to in the business today as a “career” artist, a dedicated, straight-talking guy more interested in longevity than a hit single, in building a fan base than winning an award. Five years from now, you will not find him serving food or driving a taxi. He will be playing music. “I need to play music, I want a career in music and a ‘career’ is not five years, but 35.”
On their new album, It Ain’t Easy, Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo follow in the footsteps of musical archetypes like Ronnie Earl, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, The Black Keys, Kenny Brown and R.L Burnside. These artists inspire them not just for their work, but for their approach to their art. They exist outside the traditional economic constraints of “success” and “failure,” and do their own thing on their own time. “They would all be playing music whether there was money in it or not,” says Williams. “All of them would be homeless rather than do something else. In my mind, you’re either a musician or you’re not.”
Zigzagging the Midwest and South, doing it the only way they know how, Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo spends most of their time, 180 nights a year on the road. They headline most of those dates, but have also played supporting slots for the Black Keys, Bernard Allison, Walter Trout, among many others, as well as dates at some of the Midwest largest festivals.
It Ain’t Easy, their first album, is a tour de force of authenticity, covering sounds from blues, rock and roots. It’s music the way it was meant to be played, with a music-is-my-life, let’s-hit- the-road attitude. “You can’t chase a record or an idea. You get to the real meaning, make it as good as you can make it and suffer the result.” William’s appreciates the simplicity of the approach. “If it moves you, then it’s done. If it’s perfect—but you’re still not moved—then you’ve still got work to do. Music is personal, what one person likes isn’t going to please everyone. We’re in a business that you have to just accept, bad or good and just go with it.”
“This record isn’t perfect by any means. From a pop radio perspective this album has no chance. But we weren’t trying to make a radio record; we kept it honest and to our hearts. That attitude became another member of the band in the studio. If that attitude was with us at all times, we knew we were doing something right.”
“Ray Charles is my favorite singer of all time. But he doesn’t sing about things no one else has sung. Muddy Waters borrowed from Robert Johnson. But what they have behind their words are genuine and sincere and for it to mean something is all that matters. As a songwriter and performer, that’s all I can do – be genuine and sincere in my songs and performances.”
Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo’s music is unwavering, filtering blues, soul, roots, and rock through a prism of emotional authenticity. What emerges isn’t a reinvention of the wheel, rather something undeniable, and the very definition of a force of nature. It’s real American music at its core and at its best.
Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo's Friend Space (Top 20)
Hey guys, gonna start working on the Street Team tonite. Had to print out your schedule so I can get at it. This is going to take me a while to figure out, so I hope I don't let you down. Trying to figure out when I can get to a show. I need a Hoo Doo fix, but bad! Peace, Teresa
Ciao,Aaron and Welcome, in this world of alone music, 3700 musicians of every kind, in prevalence.. jazz, blues, etc.. you are very good, I like your stupendous music a lot,and stupendous voice. compliments really.. talk to you soon, and all of my best wishes to always listen to your good music. all the best.. from italy...and good life.. every day neal
Hey guys, Hope you all aren't chillin' too much. Everytime I get back there you guys decide to have a date off or out of town, wus up with that?? We are enjoying the 80+ weather here in AZ. I'll just have to get ya some gigs out here! You game? Take care and I promise we will be getting some HOODOO SSOOOOOOON!
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