Grammy Award winning Gospel Music legend Melvin Williams, a member of the award-winning Williams Brothers, has received a 2018 Southeast EMMY Award nomination for Special Event Coverage of his new documentary, “Melvin Williams: Down Home Gospel.”
This documentary looks at Williams’ journey from his roots in Smithdale, Mississippi, to an amazing fifty year music career. The film will premiere nationally on PBS in September during Gospel Heritage Month 2018 in more than 200 markets.
The 44th Annual Southeast Emmy Awards with categories that honor journalists, television producers, photographers, documentary filmmakers, and others making a positive difference by connecting audiences with new ideas and trusted information will be held on Saturday, June 16, 2018, at the Grand Hyatt Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.
In “Down Home Gospel,” Williams’ talks about his humble beginnings in Mississippi, his parents, three sisters, and seven brothers (one brother died a few months after birth, and his brother Frank, who founded the Mississippi Mass Choir, passed away in 1993). He also shares stories about the family’s musical legacy, from the Little Williams Brothers to the Sensational Williams Brothers to the Williams Brothers to Melvin’s solo career, and how his brothers Frank and Huey of the famed Jackson Southernaires influenced his career. The 60-minute documentary features music from Williams’ ninth solo album, “Melvin Williams: Down Home Gospel,” which will be released this fall.
“Growing up, we lived in a four-bedroom house built from the ground up by my dad, Leon ‘Pop’ Williams—a carpenter and brick mason—on more than 100 acres of farmland,” says Williams, a seven-time Grammy Award nominee. “I still reside on ten acres of that land. My dad had a farm and a garden. We grew and ate all of our food from our farm including Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, string beans, okra, tomatoes, peanuts and more. We also raised cows, hogs, chickens, mules, and horses.
“The one thing I wasn’t too fond of as a young kid was picking cotton,” Melvin continues. “After we reached a certain age and size, my father expected us to pick one hundred pounds of cotton each day. Though it was not my favorite thing to do, it taught me discipline and how to make ends meet. It also taught me how to connect and get along with people.”
The Belle Report