Wanna Holler But The Town's Too Small

The Andre Williams Story

From the Whiteside Archives, originally published 1998

Andre Williams is a monster, a powerhouse rhythm & blues showman so verily bad that he almost defies description. He roars, he vibrates, seems to breathe fire and hurl lightning bolts – he wears spats over two-tone shoes. Alabama-born, Chi Town-hepped and Motor City-hardened, Williams and his mad, mad brand of rocked-up dirty blues (first captured on record in the mid-'50s with prized rhythm ravers “Bacon Fat,” “The Greasy Chicken” and “Jailbait”) represent a revolutionary-in-its-day past, a thrill-laden present and a wild new future for R&B. As the Cramps' Lux Interior says, “Andre Williams makes Little Richard sound like Pat Boone.”