music.wikisort.org - Musician

William Carter Knaak (born September 23, 1984 in Austin, Texas, United States) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who has served as a sideman in several bands, released his own albums as a solo artist and frontman, and has been the lead guitarist in the alternative rock band Blue October since 2018.[1][2]

Will Knaak
Will Knaak on stage in 2019. Photo by Julia Simone Paul.
Background information
Born	(1984-09-23) September 23, 1984 (age 38) Austin, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock Country Red dirt Country rock Folk jazz Post-grunge Blues Texas blues Blues rock Rock 'n' Roll Western swing
Occupation(s)	guitarist singer songwriter musician
Instrument(s)	vocals guitar lap steel dobro banjo keyboards
Years active	1996–current
Labels	Loungeside Records WK Big Duke Six AcidBuffalo Stepchild Records Brando Records
Member of	Blue October, Parker McCollum Band
Formerly of	Knaak Attack, Will Knaak & The Voodoo Exorcists, RedHeaded Stepchild, Alvin Crow & The Pleasant Valley Boys, The Nortons, The Esquires, The Meeting Place, Wade Bowen
Website	willknaak.com

Early life and musical start

Knaak was born and raised in Austin, Texas. His father played piano and fronted his own band Mad Knaak and the Revolution, and also briefly played keyboard in The 13th Floor Elevators.[3] His grandmother played violin, and his uncle was a guitar player. When Will was eleven, his mother died in a house fire.[4][5][6] Upon losing their home, Will and his father and brother moved into an apartment in a different neighborhood away from his friends. Mourning the loss of his mother, Will isolated himself in his room and played guitar for several hours every day, learning songs by his favorite bands such as Tripping Daisy, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Offspring.[3][6] Will's uncle introduced him to the music of Chuck Berry’s rock ‘n’ roll and country greats such as Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson, contributing to Will's unique blend of alternative rock and country guitar playing style.

Will and his dad would often dine at the Broken Spoke restaurant in Austin, which hosted live music acts. After a performance at the Spoke, performer Guitar Lynn taught Will the blues scale on guitar and suggested he could use this knowledge to solo with blues bands on nearly any song. As a twelve-year-old, Will soon found himself sitting in at gigs with local players such as Charlie and Will Sexton, Doug Sahm, and Paul Ray of the Cobras.[3] At age thirteen, Will joined the kid band RedHeaded Stepchild along with future Snarky Puppy guitarist Chris McQueen and other classmates.[7] The group played western swing covers, and even wrote some original songs, releasing the album Deep, Wide, & Forever in 1998. Will graduated from Natural Ear Music School in Austin where his teachers included the legendary fiddler Alvin Crow and Texas Music Hall of Famer Johnny X Reed who both promptly invited him to play as sideman at their gigs, and immersed him into the deep history of the Austin blues scene in addition to adding the influences of 50s R&B and surf rock to Knaak's playing.[8] After a year of performing weekly concerts with Reed's band The Nortons, and Crow's group The Pleasant Valley Boys, at age sixteen Will was fronting his own band, Knaak Attack, with bassist Silas Parker and drummer Vincent Ambrosone.[9] Record producer David Dickinson caught one of their shows and offered to produce an album for the group, which they sold on CD-Rs at their concerts throughout their formative years.[3]

When Will was fifteen, the mayor of Austin, Kirk Watson, declared May 24, 2000 as Will Knaak Day, which culminated in Will headlining an outdoor concert in front of five thousand fans at Auditorium Shores.[10] He credits this as the day when he fully committed himself to pursuing a career in music and never looked back.[3]

Music career

Will recorded his first solo album The Only Open Road at Shine Studios in Dripping Springs, Texas with producer Jeff Plankenhorn, longtime guitarist in Bob Schneider’s band. The set was mixed and engineered by Justin Douglas and released on Loungeside Records in February 2016. Knaak's band for the album included drummer Brannen Temple and bassist Yoggie Musgrove.[11] Later in 2016 Will teamed up with a different group of players to record the EP Will Knaak & the Voodoo Exorcists which showcased a hard-edged sound heavily influenced by 90s grunge, The Joshua Tree era U2, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lenny Kravitz, and Jimi Hendrix. Working with Lance Harvill as producer, the band consisted of Chris Gilbreath on rhythm guitar, Keith Long on bass, and Michael Ferguson on drums. In December 2016 Will's former teenage band The Knaak Attack played a reunion show and enjoyed the experience so much that they went into the studio and recorded an album, independently releasing it in May 2017. The group played a series of concerts that summer to promote the album.

In addition to his solo work, Knaak has been an in-demand sideman and session player in the Austin scene for a diverse array of artists such as Pauline Reese, Jon Wolfe, Melissa Sellers, Lia Catallo, Jane Bond, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Jake Lloyd, Kacy Crowley, Liars & Saints (a supergroup featuring Kacy Crowley, Johnny Goudie and Jeremy Nail), Alpha Rev, Ellie Reed, Grace Sorensen, The Statesboro Revue, Ernie Durawa of the Texas Tornados, rapper Nick Diden, and spoken word poet B. Harold Benton.[12][6] He played national tours with acts such as Angela Peterson,[13] Johnny Solinger of Skid Row,[13] Parker McCollum, and Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers.[14] Will joined Bowen's band for the tour in support of Bowen's 2014 self-titled album, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Knaak then played banjo and guitar on Bowen and Rogers’ 2015 collaborative album Hold My Beer Vol. 1 which peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Country albums chart, and number 3 on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart.[15] He also played on the album's supporting tour "Hold My Beer and Watch This!" and continued as a member of Bowen's band until 2018. Inspired by the birth of his daughter, and unable to tour during the COVID-19 pandemic, Will recorded a solo album Live in Lockdown Vol. 1 which he released via Bandcamp on June 23, 2020. On April 29, 2022 Knaak released a jazz-influenced minimalist instrumental album entitled Lonely Lo-Fi. In November 2022 Knaak launched a kickstarter campaign for his next solo album Dying Day which he described as "gritty, soulful and bluesy".[16]

In June-July 2022 Will toured as a sideman in Parker McCollum's band, which included several dates opening for Thomas Rhett.[17] Following the tour, he accepted an offer to be the full-time lead guitarist in McCollum's band starting in 2023.

Blue October and related projects

Through his extensive session work, Will befriended local producer and studio owner Matt Noveskey. When Noveskey's band Blue October found themselves in need of a guitarist in February 2018, Knaak jumped at the opportunity.[6] His first studio work with the band was on the song "King" for their ninth studio album I Hope You're Happy which reached number 28 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 on the Billboard Alternative Albums chart.[6] He also appeared in the music video for the single "Daylight".[18] He toured North America and Europe for Blue October's I Hope You’re Happy tour in 2018–2019, and his first album with the group, Live From Manchester was released in November 2019. In 2020 Will played lead guitar on Blue October's tenth album This is What I Live For and received co-writing credit for the song "Stay with Me". In a 2020 interview, Blue October frontman Justin Furstenfeld said Will Knaak is probably the most talented guitarist Blue October has ever had, calling him a "true professional guitarist".[19] Along with Noveskey and Blue October's drum technician Charley Seiss, Will is also a member of the Ryan Delahoussaye-fronted side project The Meeting Place, which played their first shows in August 2019. He also contributed guitar to Matt Noveskey's side project Icarus Bell, co-writing the band's debut single "Aces".[20][6]During the summer of 2022 Will toured with Blue October, opening for the Goo Goo Dolls on a three month run which saw the band playing premier amphitheaters across North America. Knaak contributed guitar to part 1 of Blue October's triple album Spinning the Truth Around, and co-wrote the music for two songs, "How Can You Love Me If You Don't Even Like Me?", and "The Kitchen Drawer". Knaak played guitar on the first leg of the album's supporting tour in Fall 2022.

Discography

Year	Artist	Title
1998	RedHeaded Stepchild	Deep, Wide, & Forever
2004	Alvin Crow	White Trash Opera
2006	Melissa Sellers	Deep South Austin[21]
2009	The Statesboro Revue	A Different Kind of Light
2009	Wes Hayden	Full Circle[22]
2010	Jon Wolfe	It All Happened in a Honky Tonk[23]
2015	Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen	Hold My Beer Vol. 1[15]
2015	Royal Southern Brotherhood	Don't Look Back: The Muscle Shoals Sessions
2015	Pauline Reese	Just Getting Started
2016	Will Knaak	The Only Open Road
2016	Will Knaak & the Voodoo Exorcists	Will Knaak & the Voodoo Exorcists
2017	Knaak Attack	Knaak Attack
2018	Blue October	I Hope You're Happy
2019	Blue October	King
2019	Jake Lloyd	MoonLit Mornings
2019	Blue October	Live From Manchester
2020	Will Knaak	Live in Lockdown Vol. 1
2020	Blue October	This Is What I Live For
2020	Lia Catallo	In My Fantasies
2022	Will Knaak	Lonely Lofi
2022	Blue October	Spinning the Truth Around (Part I)
2022	Durawa	One Human Race
2023	Will Knaak	Dying Day

References

External links

• Official website
• Will Knaak at AllMusic
• Will Knaak discography at Discogs

На других языках

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- [en] Will Knaak

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[ru] Наак, Уилл

Уильям Картер Наак (англ. William Carter Knaak, род. 23 сентября 1984, Остин, США) — американский гитарист и автор песен, известный как сессионный гитарист для ряда групп, сольный исполнитель, а также гитарист рок-группы Blue October с 2018 года.[1][2]

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