Mary Williams's Page

I am originally from Seattle, Washington (Kirkland to be specific). I was stage manager for 5 years at Wintergrass Bluegrass Festival in Tacoma Washington when it was first concepted in the mid 90's. I participated in many bluegrass jams and band scrambles in the area from the mid-90's until I moved to Montana in 2011. In the late nineties I participated regularly in open mics in Seattle performing covers and my original songs. I sang and played guitar with a worship team from 1990 to 1999 at a local church in Redmond, Washington. I have written my own songs and compositions and published them in cassette format in 1997. While performing my own songs at local coffee shops in the Puget Sound area, I pursued my certificate and licensure in massage therapy. I am now a fully employed massage therapist in Bozeman and play my guitar and sing and drum just for fun.

I also play Afro-Cuban rythmns with congas and djembe. I initially started playing djembe in 1996. From that group, 3 of us developed our own percussion ensemble playing Afro-Cuban rythmns at local outdoor markets and festivals with our congas for people to dance. I then joined an African ensemble, The Crows, in 1998 where we would perform at small outdoor events in the Pacific Northwest. I received training from Arthur Hull in facilitating drum circles in 1999 and assisted Arthur in public drum circles at Folk Life Festival in Seattle and WOMAD Festival at Marymoor Park, Redmond, Washington. This led me to playing in a Brazilian Samba band called !Show Brazil! orchestrated by Eduardo Mendonca. I played surdu in his marching band at parades and indoor performance halls. I did a bit of travelling with !Show Brazil! playing at outdoor stages. I was part of his band when we performed for the opening ceremony for the All Star Game at Safeco Field in Seattle in 2001.

I also produced a Brazilian bossa nova cd called "Back Home", featuring upright bass player, Guil Guimaraes. Also on the cd were Julio A. Jauregui on keyboards and Jeff Busch on drums and percussion and Hans Teuber on wind.This cd was published in 2002. Guil Guimaraes is a very talented, multi-instrumental musician. He now resides in Poland."