Cashmere Williams believes his purpose in life is to play guitar. He makes a compelling case when his fingers glide over the frets of his Epiphone hollow body – and when he talks about his passion.

“My granddad on my father’s side played blues guitar. My mother played guitar. My uncle was a preacher; he played guitar,” Williams says. “So I was around the guitar all the time. … I just think it was inevitable that I would pick up this instrument as opposed to the keyboards or something like that.”

The Tuscaloosa native began playing when he was 7 and won his first talent show as an 8-year-old playing a gospel song his uncle had taught him. It was the start of a music career that includes playing Top 40 hits in bars, even though he was underage; winning a partial scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he survived “culture shock” and a tough first year to really learn his craft; being one of Just a Few Cats backing “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard on tour; and reinventing, and creating a new brand for, himself.

Alabama Music Maker: Cashmere Williams from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

Keith Williams was born in Tuscaloosa in 1970, and since 1999 music has been his full-time job. “I stepped out on faith and started playing guitar,” he says. “At the time things were really good, and then a lot of things happened for me down the road. I was very fortunate to get to tour with Ruben. That was just the grace of God.”

And a missing saxophone player, as Williams tells the story. Williams knew the bass player in Studdard’s pre-‘American Idol’ band, Just a Few Cats, and got a call from him one day. “He said, ‘Hey, our saxophone player’s not here. Can you come up and play just the lead parts?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ so that’s how I got introduced to Ona’s Music Room and started playing the Birmingham circuit.”

Cashmere Williams performs. (contributed)

That’s also how Williams met Studdard – “and you know the rest is pretty much history.” After Studdard won the second season of “American Idol” in 2003, Williams says the record label wanted to send “the Velvet Teddy Bear” on tour with a band of hired guns.

“His words were that he didn’t want to go on the road with a bunch of musicians he didn’t know,” Williams says. “He wanted us to be his band. To this day, I thank him because he really stood up to the record label – like, ‘These guys are good. I want them to play.’

“So on our own dime, we flew to Los Angeles and auditioned in front of Randy Jackson and some of the other panelists for ‘American Idol.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, they’re good enough.’ But if Ruben hadn’t done that we never would have had that opportunity.”

They made the network TV circuit, playing for Jay Leno, David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres and others. “It was very surreal. It was like a dream come true for me,” Williams says.

His main lesson learned from touring was that music is a business, and you must take care of that business.

Cashmere Williams released his EP in March. (contributed)

In the years since, Williams has been taking care of his business, playing corporate events, private parties and jazz festivals and along the way rebranding himself from Keith Williams to Cashmere Williams.

The new name came after he embraced the smooth jazz genre (think of artists such as George Benson, Sade, Bob James, David Benoit and David Sanborn).  Williams often sat in with other bands. “People would say, ‘Man, you have such a smooth style when you play … kind of like cashmere.’ When people kept saying it, I was like, man, I need to get on that.

“It just kind of happened. I didn’t even come up with it. Someone else did,” he says.

Smooth jazz has worked well for Williams. The Alabama Music Awards, sponsored by the state of Alabama, named him best male jazz artist in 2016 and 2017.

In March, he debuted a new EP, “Uptown,” to a sold-out show at the Perfect Note, a Birmingham jazz club.

Through it all, Williams remains thankful he’s been able to make a living at his passion for almost two decades.

“God gave me this gift for a reason. I feel like I am living my purpose through my music and the instrument is just a tool I’m using while I’m on Earth,” he says. “It’s the most liberating feeling in the world to be on stage, have a sell-out crowd, sell out of CDs, make new friends, get new tour dates. It’s the most awesomest feeling in the world.”

Stay in tune with Cashmere Williams’ music and performances at:

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Website: cashmerewilliams.com