James Williamson (musician) - Early Years

Early Years

Williamson began playing guitar in the 7th grade, while his family were living in Lawton, Oklahoma: 'One summer while visiting Texas, I wound up getting a guitar because I thought it was cool. My sister was bringing home Elvis records and so I thought, "I gotta have a guitar". So I talked my mom into getting me one. My uncle worked for Sears, so I ended up with an old Sears f-hole guitar with action about an inch and a half off the fret board. Anyway, when I first learned to play guitar a little bit, it was just chords and stuff, but then about a year or so later we moved to Detroit area, and it just so happened that I moved next door to a family that all played music. The son in that family, his name was Ken Black. He played electric guitar. I remember moving to Detroit - it was the summer when Martha And The Vandellas' "Heatwave" was a smash hit record. I would spend my days hanging over in his room, listening to him play and also learning how to play barre chords and things like that. By the end of that summer, I got good enough that I ended up getting my own electric guitar, which was a Fender Jaguar'. When Williamson was in the 9th grade in Detroit he formed his first rock 'n' roll band, The Chosen Few, with schoolmate Scott Richardson. They performed cover versions of Rolling Stones songs and others. Williamson also spent some time in a juvenile home after his step father had told him to cut his hair - Williamson refused. In the first half of 1966, Williamson was in a boarding school in a small town eighty miles north of New York City. While there, Williamson helped form and played lead guitar in the Coba Seas. During that time, the Coba Seas taped a rehearsal session, resulting in the first recordings of Williamson's guitar prowess. In one of the Chosen Few's later line-ups, in 11th grade, Ron Asheton was the bassist. Asheton, as guitarist, went on to form The Stooges with his brother Scott, Dave Alexander and Iggy Pop.

After graduating from High School in 1969, Williamson travelled to New York City to keep in touch with his friends The Stooges, who were recording their debut album with former Velvet Underground member John Cale.