Checking in with Weber artist Anthony Howell

The young multi-instrumentalist has been keeping busy with performances online, in the studio and on stage.

When Weber last checked in with Nashville multi-instrumentalist Anthony Howell, in mid-November, he had a full plate of touring dates with family bluegrass band Williamson Branch, and he was just getting acquainted with his new Gallatin F-14F, which can be heard on the group’s most recent effort, Classy. Sassy. Bluegrassy.

Needless to say, things have changed for the Zama, Mississippi native, but Williamson Branch, he is pleased to note, has been keeping as busy as a band can during strange times, doing plenty of performances online and, more recently, a few, “here and there,” in person, with trips to Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Facebook appearances have really made a difference.

“Before quarantine started,” Howell says, “Williamson Branch had about 47,000 social media followers, now we have close to 300,000.”

At the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown, Howell says, the sextet was often posting a new song each day, recording selections specifically for digital sharing. Eventually, that pace slowed, as the group found its best rhythm for releasing new tracks.

“As we've gotten further into it, we’ve changed the rate,” the young picker chuckles, “because it's hard to find new material every day, you know!”

Howell says the self-determined demand for output led to some interesting situations.

“We played one Saturday in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania and then deadheaded a whole week before playing the next show, the following weekend, in New Milford. So, while we were just hanging out, we would go to wherever we could find Wi-Fi, since there was little service. While we were in rural Pennsylvania, for example, we went to a laundromat to catch up on clothes, and since we had to do a video and the place had Wi-Fi, we shot it right there. It’s wherever we're at at the time!”

The group has been using the slowed pace wisely, and presently is working up an in-depth gospel survey, which fans have been requesting “for a long time.”

“It'll be a two CD project. One disc will be all hymns, stuff that people might know; the other CD will be new songs that people probably haven't heard, including some we’ve written.”

Howell plays all of the banjo, virtually all of the mandolin and also lead guitar on the recordings—not at the same time—"It'd be quite an accomplishment to learn how to play the guitar with my toes, I guess!”

Never one to take it easy, Howell has also been working on a duo album with his teacher Alan Sibley—leader of the Magnolia Ramblers and host of RFD-TV’s Bluegrass Trail—seeing it as a follow-up of sorts to his well-received 2018 solo effort Memories.

“Alan called me back in late March/early April and asked if I was interested in recording—he wanted to do an instrumental album for his new record label. I said, ‘Yes, always.’”

The finished disc, tentatively titled Time to Pick and slated for hopeful fall release, will feature Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” among other favorites like “Wildwood Flower,” “Sailor’s Hornpipe” and “Redwing.”

As Sibley, a fellow fret wizard, is a mandolinist by nature, Howell only straps on the Gallatin for “What a Friend we Have in Jesus,” but he praises the instrument, which he has been working plenty now that he’s had it for over a year.

“I get to play it all the time,” he beams. “Especially whenever I do a live show with Williamson Branch. A lot of times we'll do “Road to Energy,” one of my instrumentals that was on my last CD. We also do an original tune called “Mindy May,” that I’m featured on. So the Gallatin gets a work out, and of course, since I've had it and played on it for a while now, it sounds even better all the time. I really enjoy playing it.”

Howell says that while the initial goal for Time to Pick was to find public domain tunes familiar to both players, their individual tastes demanded they broaden the scope, proving there’s no better method for improvement than talking to a challenge.

“The plan didn't work out so well because half the tunes that we chose we both had to learn!”

Howell says his approach to preparing new material is pretty similar whether he’s working out a melody across fifths on a mandolin, picking through that third gap on a guitar or crushing open G on his favorite banjo.

“Note wise, melody wise, they're essentially the same with the exception of a few techniques. On mandolin, I'll use a lot of tremolo within the melody, especially on a slow song like “Friend.” At the end of the break on that one, I use a split string technique borrowed from Jesse McReynolds where I'm getting essentially two notes out of one string pair.”

He doubts he and Sibley will have much of an opportunity to promote the duo record, especially with the requirements of putting together a band for pickup dates in the midst of a pandemic. And, to continue the joke, since they only have two hands apiece, they can’t replicate all their own parts, which cover pretty much everything except some bass tracks by Mark Tribble and a guest fiddle spot from WB bandmate Melody Williamson.

Besides, he’s confident that as soon as the gates open, Williamson Branch will be back out there in full force, onstage and in the game.