UF staffer named state’s bluegrass mandolin champion

July 25, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It came to him in a dream.

Two days before he turned 28, administrative assistant Max Williams dreamt that he was playing a mandolin, his fingers flying across the frets. He was playing better than he played the guitar, his main instrument for the previous 19 years. He took it as a sign.

“I had some money from my birthday, so I went and checked it out and within a week, I was better at the mandolin than I had ever been at the guitar,” Williams said.

Though Williams, 33, is a self-proclaimed numbers cruncher for the UF Department of Astronomy by day, his passion is for his handmade Neil Dean F-5 mandolin, which he plays for at least an hour every day.

He was recently named the 2007 Florida State Bluegrass Mandolin Champion at a competition in Perry, Fla. This win fueled his ambition to go to the National Mandolin Championship in Winfield, Kan., but Williams hasn’t had time to make it there yet.

“It’s always been my dream,” he said. “But I have a young daughter, so maybe I’ll go when she’s older.”

In fact, Williams’ daughter, Maddie, turned 1 on July 5. Williams composed a quaint and bluesy piece for her called “Maddie’s Song” before she was born. He has also written several instrumentals for his wife, Barb, the office manager for the School of Art and Art History here at UF.

Since 2002, Williams has been part of a three-person bluegrass band called Boilin’ Oil, which includes bass player John Peyton and guitarist Chris Demers. Boilin’ Oil plays gigs throughout Alachua County, and can be heard the third Wednesday of every month at Satchel’s Pizza, 1800 N.W. 23 Ave.

However, just because Williams plays an unusual instrument does not limit his repertoire to bluegrass.

He also plays with a group called Jacaré Brazil, the UF Brazilian Music Ensemble. Brazilian music also has a deep tradition of mandolin playing, Williams said. He describes the music as rhythmic and syncopated, saying that it “requires more groove” than the boxy rhythms of bluegrass.

Because Williams was classically trained at the University of Virginia and can read music, he can transpose all sorts of music to fit his mandolin. Violin music is especially suited to this purpose, and Williams also plays classical music including Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.

Because the mandolin is a niche instrument, the musician must blaze his or her own trail, Williams said.

“It’s liberating in a way, because no one’s done it before,” he said. “No one can say, ‘You’re not as good as Isaac Stern or Jascha Heifetz.’ They’ll say, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard a mandolin do that before!’”