Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992 TAG: 9202190252
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SKI-BOOT SINGERS FIND NEW FANS
It wasn't "Moon River," but then it wasn't Guns N' Roses, either, and it went well with an audience mostly in wheelchairs.Andrew and David Williams, nephews of singer Andy Williams, who did "Moon River" a lot some years ago, came to Roanoke's Friendship Manor Tuesday for a short afternoon concert.
The Williamses, both 32 because they are twins, said before the concert in the lobby of the manor's convalescent center that they don't play "Moon River," even occasionally.
They described their style as folk-pop with an acoustic sound, and it is possible to hear what they are singing.
They are ski-boot-and-blue-jean types who do not - at least in convalescent center lobbies - jump around a lot or include explosions in their act.
The singing is not as mild and sweet as the old "Andy Williams Christmas Show," but that may have been just as well.
Their performing name is easy to understand. They call themselves the Williams Brothers.
The only music came from their own non-electric, flat-top guitars, which were played with decorum.
David has short hair and Andrew - who doesn't use the nickname Andy for obvious reasons - wears his hair long.
The singers said the stop at Friendship Manor to play for the people in wheelchairs was something new in their current promotion tour and in their careers. It was also something new for the lobby with potted trees and easy chairs.
The Williams twins came to be there on a damp February afternoon because they were in town to promote their music on Roanoke's K-92.
The seven people who work in the convalescent center's quality assurance office won a K-92 contest entitling them to a luncheon concert by the Williams Brothers.
The quality assurance people decided they would rather have the singers perform for the patients in the lobby - a decidely unorthodox place to promote a record.
It was a short, four-song concert - including "Give It All Up for You," which has entered the charts at 40.
There was also a tune called "It's A Wonderful Life."
The audience, its members a lot younger when Jimmy Stewart starred in a cult movie of the same name, was told this song had nothing to do with the movie.
It didn't, but nobody seemed disappointed.