The Endless Soul Searching of Ageless Singer Tomar Williams

photo by Lyza Renee

Gigging throughout Austin since high school in the late Eighties, from the Eastside’s Chitlin’ Circuit to indie rock crucible the Cave Club and Liberty Lunch, Tomar Williams forgot more about local music than Willie Nelson.

“I recall the first time I met Charley [Crockett] at the White Horse,” laughs the ageless soul man, 56. “He was like, 'Hey man, Tomar, you remind me of this cat.’ This is 2015. 'This cat named Leon Bridges, man. We do the circuit in Fort Worth.’ Charley’s [got] kind of dual citizenship: Fort Worth and Austin, back and forth.

“I said, 'What’s his name?’ 'Leon Bridges.’ 'Never heard of him.’ 'You never heard of that guy? Man, he’s up and coming. He’s awesome, Tomar.’ He said, 'Tell you what, y’all need to talk. Let me give you his number. You need to text him. Give him a call, man. Y’all need to connect. Let me have your phone.’

“So he starts typing in Leon’s phone number and as he types, THIS pops up [Williams holds up his phone]. He’s like, 'Yo, man, y’already got him in here.’

“I said, 'What!?’

“He said, 'That’s him, man.’

“I said, 'How do you know?’

“It says, 'Leon Bridges, Soul Singer.’

“I don’t know this dude.

“He said, 'Apparently you do. That’s his number.’”

Took a minute, but eventually the episode flitted back. Bandleading keyboardist for local R&B hit Latasha Lee & the BlackTies, Williams off-loaded them from the Miller Lite stage at ACL Fest 2013 and ran smack-dab into “a kid” out of Cowtown eager to connect. Said future Lone Star made a career out of perseverance all right.

Jaw-dropping anecdotes, 200 years of family timeline, and palpable musicality pours from Tomar & the FCs’ namesake over the course of 90 minutes. The group’s third album comes titled Soul Searching, but its figurehead qualifies as ATX music history all by himself. Williams connects East Austin to East Sixth, old school to new millennium, a journeyman’s experience to the beginner’s sheer exuberance.

Recorded at co-founder Andy Tenberg’s South Austin studio, Soul Searching accomplishes its titular mission on the opening song. The guitarist’s “Don’t Mind the Joneses” struts a perfect slice of vintage funk, soul, rock – whatever we call that one root music from Black American culture. Luxuriate in the space between notes, space within the groove, and space for the singer to plead his case.

Where 2016 debut Heart Attack manifested a Stax Records analog in the ATX, and follow-up Rise Above notched a million streams despite coming out in February 2020, the new LP settles down and in. James Rodman’s Wurlitzer electric piano and Hammond organ overlay warmth and hearth, while Chris Alexander (bass) and Paul Kresowik (drums) stroll the Milky Way and saxophonist Jorion Dawson shoots the firmament. Soul Supporters Angela Miller and Lauren Cervantes bind it all together with glittering harmonies.

And Williams? Gritty throat, 110% commitment, absolute belief – file him next to Otis Redding.

“Jackie Wilson,” corrects our subject. “Mr. Excitement! I know I probably don’t [resemble him], vocal-wise, but when I was growing up, my mom would listen to Jackie Wilson All. The. Time.”

Kahron Spearman’s pre-pandemic Austin Chronicle cover story on the singer doubles as a Williams family biography (revisit “Tomar Williams Hones Four Decades of Soul,” Nov. 16, 2018). Parents Isaac and Bobbie raised their seven children both on Islam and music, so family bands cycled. Notably, their collective 6:AM played the Victory Grill even before the family uprooted from Las Vegas to San Marcos. The family owns “100-some acres” near Luling, where Williams acts as caretaker to his ailing parents and three other siblings dwell in their own homes.

“Muhammad Ali and my dad were real close,” says Williams. “Muhammad Ali was close with the whole family. My dad was in charge of driving him to and from the airport back in Las Vegas. He was a lieutenant in the mosque and it’s funny because he’d bought a brand-new station wagon and all the other brothers’ cars weren’t up to par. Ali didn’t want to be riding up in no raggedy car, so when he needed picking up, 'Brother Isaac, why don’t you pick up the champ?’”

Recently divorced father of two daughters, 16 and 25, with a flooring business on the side, Williams taps his whole life on Soul Searching. And by his estimation, he’s still getting started. Walking out, he shrugs another tall tale.

“Back in the day, at the old Mercury on Sixth Street where Hot Buttered Rhythm played, I sat to the left of the stage banging those weighted keys on a Fender Rhodes, splitting fingernails and stuff. Back then, we did 64-bar solos, man. You don't do no 16-bar solo for a jam.

“So I’m doing this solo and suddenly, 'Damn, that dude looks like Lenny Kravitz.’ I said, 'Naw. No, Lenny got dreads. This guy’s got a small Afro.’ He had beehive glasses, scarf around his neck, earrings in the nose.

“End of song, bam. Brannen’s so cool. He grabs the mic, ’cause we had J.J. Johnson, Brannen Temple, Yoggie Musgrove, Edwin Livingston, James Simpson, and I took Fred Sanders’ spot.

“Brannen pulls the mic down: 'Yeah. Ahm, thank y’all for coming out.’ Blah, blah, blah. 'Also, I’d like to welcome Lenny Kravitz and his full band.’

“WHAT? There he was, standing there. Lenny said he’d never seen anything like that in his life. He said, 'I want you guys to finish out the remainder of my tour.’ Right there in front of his band, he asked us to finish out the tour.

“And you know what, we couldn’t. Everyone had prior engagements – BAD timing.

“I go home and I tell my wife. I’m excited, even though we told him we couldn’t do it: 'Baby, guess what, guess what? I met Lenny Kravitz tonight and he wants us to go on tour!’

“'What?? When are y’all leaving?’

“'We ain’t leaving, I’m going to bed! I’m gonna dream about it instead.’”

Tomar & the FCs celebrate the release of Soul Searching this Friday, Feb. 28, at Antone's, and play the Chronicle’s South by Southwest day party, March 14 at Hotel Vegas.