By Luke Voogt
As the sons of an Aussie rock pioneer Warren and Andrew Williams have the music pedigree to pay tribute to The Everly Brothers.
As kids they listened to the brothers with their dad Warren Williams (Sr), a regular performer on Australian TV.
“We grew up with the music of that era going to rehearsals and watching dad sing,” Warren (Jr), 58, said.
“I have the low voice like Don Everly and Andrew’s got the high voice of Phil Everly.”
After decades perform together, The Williams Brothers bring their tribute show to Geelong Performing Arts Centre on 13 April.
“We’re just very used to being on stage together,” Warren said.
“Even if we make a mistake we seem to make it at the same time, look at each other and say’ ‘that was pretty peculiar’.”
Warren first performed alongside dad at age six on iconic TV show Bandstand.
Despite being ten years younger, Andrew also grew up listening to the music of the ’60s.
“We were singing stuff with dad since we were little boys,” Warren said.
“Andrew and I have grown up performing all our lives.”
The first half of their show, which comes to Geelong for the first time, relives the story and music of The Everly Brothers.
“It’s more like an Everly Brothers songbook – we don’t try to impersonate them,” Warren said.
“Andrew and I are fortunate to have the same sort of (vocal) range. Our harmonies are pretty similar.”
The second half of the show is a jukebox of rock hits, from Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, to The Bee Gees, The Eagles and The Beatles.
“We ask the audience what they want to hear,” he said.
For decades the brothers had played tributes to artists from the ’50s to the early ’70s, Warren explained.
“We basically know everything from those eras, so it’s pretty hard to stump us.
“If we do get stumped we try anyway – it’s a nice little interaction between us and the audience.”
The brothers will play with their band The Shy Guys, named after their father.
“(The Shy Guy) was the nickname given to our dad by Johnny O’Keefe back in his glory days,” Warren said.
