Phil Williams
Philip L. "Phil" Williams (died February 16, 2017) was a bassist, mandolinist, guitarist, and banjo player, as well as a lawyer, recording engineer, and organizer of folk music events in Seattle. He studied philosophy at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he met fiddler Vivian Tomlinson, whom he later married. He earned a law degree from the University of Washington and practiced law in Seattle, often doing legal work for music organizations. He learned bluegrass banjo from Fred McFalls around 1960 and played bass in McFalls's Carolina Mountain Boys. In 1962 he formed the Turkey Pluckers with Vivian, Ron Ginther, and Mike Nelson. In 1967, when Bill Monroe's band was stranded in the Northwest, he played bass for Monroe's concerts in Seattle and Centralia. He played mandolin in the Tall Timber Boys, later called Tall Timber, and in the Friends of Sally Johnson, which became Williams & Bray in 1990. He and Vivian also performed as a duo. He co-founded the Seattle Folklore Society in 1966 and was the main founder of the Northwest Folklife Festival. He also helped incorporate the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association, the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Association, and the Darrington Bluegrass Festival. In 1967 he and Vivian founded Voyager Recordings and Publications, which released recordings, tune books, and instructional materials of fiddle and string band music. He built its recording studio, and Smithsonian Folkways later archived its catalog. He died in 2017 at age 80.