Everett P. Williams Jr. is minister of music for Asbury United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. Born in Yakima, Washington, he grew up the son of a Black Methodist preacher (the late Rev. Everett P. Williams Sr.) in majority white communities in Washington state and northern California. A church choir director at age 11, classically trained in piano from an early age, self-taught on the organ, his first paid position came at Mount Zion Baptist Church during his student years at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His degrees from Oberlin certified him to teach as well as to perform and he embarked upon a career as an actor, composer, teacher at the university and public-school levels, performance artist including music made with the E.P. Williams Ensemble and a solo CD recording released in 2016, as well as 60 years of service accompanying and directing choirs and musical arts programs across the country. After visiting Washington, D.C. as a college student he moved to the District in 1981, lived three years in Washington and later bought his first home in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he resided at the time of the interview.