HOH’s One-Minute Recess: Pulling Our Heart Strings
Once upon a time, HOH wrote about a Senate staff director who dreamed of something more, something beyond the gleaming white Dome of the Capitol.
Donny Ray Williams posted an ad on Craigslist: “My job requires long hours and intense work. … By night, I play guitar and write music.”
HOH spotted the ad and wrote about it back in 2009. The embarrassed Williams admitted at the time that while he’d gotten a lot of responses, it hadn’t worked out.
We promised a follow-up. In the past two years, Williams has left the Hill to work for President Barack Obama, returned to his job on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and left again.
But in the past six months, something bigger has happened: He’s found the band of his dreams. It turns out that sometimes looking for love on Craigslist can work (take note, Chris Lee). Well, at least the musical kind.
It started off with his guitarist, Evan. They met before HOH last wrote about Williams’ ad.
“We were totally musical soul mates,” Williams said. “We kept playing and we kept posting on Craigslist, trying to see if anyone else was interested.”
As anyone who’s ever dated in D.C. knows, it takes a while to find what you’re looking for. The pair went through a lot of different auditions with a lot of different people.
Eventually, Williams found a drummer and bassist whom he described as solid musicians, saying the quartet has a “great musical chemistry.”
The band has spent the past six months practicing and developing a set of 10 songs. Their first gig will be at the Rock N Roll Hotel on Sept. 10.
“We have this real sort of connection,” Williams said.
Congrats to the happy band. We’ll try to make it out, and we hope some Hill staffers learn from your musical love story.