Growing up in the 1970s, Mike Williamson spent a lot of time listening to the radio.
He remembers disc jockeys playing not only the current music but spinning records from earlier time frames.
“I was very much a Beatles and oldies kid in high school,” said Williamson, who is a keyboard player and vocalist with Sail On, a Beach Boys’ tribute band. The group will be in concert in February in Evans.
Also, his father was a huge fan of the Beach Boys’ music. It was the soundtrack of his youth, and he played it while his kids grew up. As a result, Williamson was heavily influenced by their sound.
Williamson has been a professional musician all his life and has played every genre of music from folk to jazz. He’s played with a lot of other performers and has worked as a composer, arranger, engineer and producer.
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He met the other members of Sail On through a common project, and they all found they had a similar love for the Beach Boys.
When they play, Sail On plays the whole range of Beach Boys music from “Surfin’” to “Kokomo” and everything in between.
“It’s like the greatest hits,” he said.
Williamson has a special appreciation for the songs penned by Brian Wilson.
“Brian Wilson was very melancholy and sentimental,” he said. “There’s a depth to his music that didn’t really exist before in pop music. It’s there in folk music and even American country and western. (Wilson’s music) is really angsty.”
Songs from the “Pet Sounds” album such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” and “God Only Knows” are perfect examples of that.
“It’s very honest. It’s very emotional,” he said.
The audience Sail On plays to relates to those songs because they are usually the people who were in their teens when the music was first released.
“This music is so beloved by that generation,” he said. “They were adolescents in the 60s.”
And he said he enjoys bringing those memories back to them.
Sail On is part of the Augusta Amusements’ concert line-up. The group will perform at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $39.95. To make reservations, call (706) 726-0366 or order online at www.augustaamusements.com.
Augusta Amusements resumed concerts under COVID-19 conditions in December with the Annie Moses Band, according to Mike Deas, the company’s president.
Seating capacity is limited with space between patrons to try and maintain social distancing, he said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
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