Artist prefers life in his hometown

• By ROBERT JONES
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Feb 2, 2009 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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ST. MARTINVILLE — While his talents with a guitar and palette have contributed to area-wide success and acclaim, musician and artist Dennis Paul Williams has dismissed the potential life of a rock star on the West Coast and remained in his home community to share his talents by serving on the St. Martinville City Council.

Williams regularly plays music across Acadiana and the country with his brother’s band, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas; has launched a solo music CD; and has had his art exhibited in some of the most-prestigious venues in the United States.

But he lives a life far different from a pop culture icon.

Although invited on many occasions to move to Los Angeles, New York and other cities known for art and cultures — a move likely to have benefited him financially — Williams has remained home in St. Martinville to care for his wife, Paulette, and their two daughters; and serve on the City Council.

A man of strong faith who has translated his beliefs into a philosophy on which he has built his career and life, Williams loves his hometown and his Louisiana heritage, and has a rare outlook born of travels that he applies to his home community through service to friends and neighbors.

Despite national acclaim, his heart and mind are never far from St. Martinville and the recent successes the council and the administration have had in improving the community.

“We have a good mayor, Thomas Nelson, and the council is very good to work with,” Williams said. “The town is my friend. We are finally finding ways to attract new business and (the vacant buildings on) Main Street (are) filling up. Mayor Nelson has a lot of experience dealing with people, and I have learned a lot from him as we continue to make roads and infrastructure better in the city.”

As Williams grows as a public servant, he has also found growth over his 30-plus year career as an artist.

Williams describes his work as not having a style but a voice — eclectic, possessing of love, self-expression and his faith.

“My art is a meditation,” Williams, 48, said. “Each piece is more a prayer than an image. What I try to create comes from the heart.”

Sitting at his breakfast table in his old home in the center of town surrounded by guitars and art, Williams said he is proud of his heritage, his art, his music and his service to his home city.

He recently completed a solo music CD, “Morning Light,” as he prepares to go to New York to play with his brother’s band.

He also recently had his art featured locally at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, the last in a long run of exhibits around the U.S. and the world.