Five Firsts: Robin Williams of Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group

NAME: Robin Williams
BAND AFFILIATION: Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group
INSTRUMENT: Guitar and harmonica

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … Kingston Trio’s “Live at the Hungry I.” They were my first introduction to folk music. I have a soft place in my heart for Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and Dave Guard.

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS …Gene Autry at an auditorium in Raleigh, NC. He had his horse Champion with him. I’ve often wondered what touring must have been like back then.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … My mother’s cornet in junior high school band. My first guitar was a Stella given to me by a friend. Man, it was a cheap guitar. The bridge would move and the neck was painted. I was the third person to learn guitar on this instrument, and then my brother and sister learned on it, too. I’d like to know what happened to it.

4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … Probably some song by one of the folk groups that were on the radio in the early ’60s, something like “Greenback Dollar,” “Old Joe Clark” or “Blowing In The Wind.” But it could have been something like “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” To me that was a Johnny Cash song. I didn’t even know about Bob Dylan then.

5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … A high school folk music quartet that we formed to enter a talent show. I don’t remember the name, but I remember who was in it. It was our only gig but we got our picture in the yearbook.

In support of their recently released album, “Stonewall Country,” the longtime husband-and-wife team of Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group at the Eighth Step at Proctors in Schenectady at 7:30pm on Saturday (February 25). Tix are $26.