You'd better practice your penmanship if you want Keller Williams to play a specific song during his set at Club Congress tonight.
The eclectic performer, known for mixing a wide range of genres into his one-man-band act, is open to any and all suggestions, provided he can read them.
"If you write the song title very neatly on a piece of paper and delicately place it on the stage in my line of sight, more than likely you will hear it," Williams said in a phone interview from his home near Fredericksburg, Va. "Facebook helps, too, if you want to make suggestions ahead of time."
The requests couldn't hurt.
With nearly 20 albums of material going back to the mid-1990s, Williams has plenty of music to choose from.
The last year has been particularly busy for the East Coast native, who took his talents in several different directions.
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Last July, Williams teamed up with The Travelin' McCourys, an offshoot of bluegrass icon Del McCoury's touring band, to release the album "Pick."
The band, formed by Del's sons Ronnie on mandolin and Rob on banjo, hit festivals nationwide with Williams, including the McDowell Mountain Music Fest in Phoenix.
Williams said the McCourys are a savvy bunch of musicians, with a good sense of how quality music is made.
"It was special to watch them work," Williams said. "They really put their own stamp on things."
Last fall, in addition to the bluegrass, Williams decided to form the funk and soul band, More Than a Little, which he performed with seven times throughout December.
The group featured some handpicked R&B players from around Virginia.
Williams liked the project so much, tracks from the gigs will be featured on a live album that he hopes to put out in the next few months.
"I'm in the thick of listening to it right now," Williams said. "It is more of a revue. The more we do it, the better it gets."
Williams attributes his love for such different types of music to what he listened to growing up.
Williams is a native of Fredericksburg, which is about an hour south of Washington, D.C., but still considered the South.
His proximity to Appalachia exposed him to plenty of bluegrass music.
At the same time, urban influences, such as Go-Go music from Washington, also made an impact.
Williams said his big early influences included the Grateful Dead and acoustic guitarist Michael Hedges.
"It was that psychedelic Americana mixed in with this New Age funk," he said. "That is where my style kind of formed."
Williams has managed to bring many of those musical elements during his career to the creative table, which has worked out in his favor.
"It is a fantastic age to be a music lover," he said. "There are so many avenues and places on the Internet to go and hear music for free, to get it out there."
At the same time, he said, it is the worst time in history to try to make a living selling music, which is why he relies on touring.
His bread and butter, which is what he is bringing to Club Congress tonight, is his solo act, where William performs funk-heavy material set to looping instrumental tracks.
Expect to hear some funk, some jam band rock stuff, and maybe even some bluegrass at the show.
"It's good to have different genres to experiment with," he said. "I am grateful not to be stuck in a musical rut."
If you go
• What: Keller Williams in concert.
• When: 6:30 tonight.
• Where: Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
• Cost: $22 through the Club Congress box office, 622-8848.
