By Tim Harty, The Business Times

FRUITA – James Williams and his wife, Samantha, own a music and clothing store in downtown Fruita. And a gym. And a concert-promotion business. And James is a touring musician.

Then, a few years ago he decided he had too much time remaining in the day to sleep, so he decided to run for public office, and he won election to the Fruita City Council.

Yeah, James Williams is kind of busy. So, the 52-year-old who has been in the Grand Valley about 25 years wasn’t looking to start another business. No time for it.

But sometimes the stars align – or your daughter Chloe comes home from college – and before you know it that business you never had time to pursue is a shiny new reality.

That’s pretty much how Rhema Talent Agency came to be, and Williams is ready to represent musicians, handling the minutiae that goes into booking gigs. The agency will be based at 219 E. Aspen Ave. in Fruita, the home base for all of his businesses.

Williams said he had long entertained the idea of starting a booking agency, because as a member of the Williams Brothers Band, or sometimes as a solo act, he’s had to do it for himself for a long time. He said he played his first show in 1990, then as his brain took a second before relaying the math, he realized, “Actually, wow, I guess it’s almost 35 years.”

Williams has experience, relationships and contacts in abundance, and others wouldn’t mind mining it.

“I’ve been asked over the past probably 15, 20 years if I would handle booking for a lot of people,” he said. “I’ve had that question pop up over and over and over. I’ve always had my idea to do this. Really I just didn’t have the time to dive into it.”

No time? Enter Chloe Williams, recent college grad, problem solver, Dad motivator and business starter.

“The big thing with this,” James said, “is that my daughter graduated college, so she was home this summer. She was able to help me work on all the paperwork, stuff like that. So, I needed that extra hand to help me do all the infrastructure to get it going.

“And she was here to help me with that, so that was the big catalyst for it. It presented itself, the timing was right for us to do it, and here we are.”

After a couple weeks of a “slow opening” of the business, Williams said he’s ready to do “a big push this week as I get all my email lists together and everything ready to push it out.”

He already has about seven or eight bands he’ll be working for, and while some of them are local – StrayGrass, The Frank Bregar Orchestra, The Violet Pines – he emphasized his scope is nationwide for artists and venues.

“Everybody is hand-picked. They’re bands we’ve worked with over the years, established relationships with,” Williams said, adding he just picked up the singer from Blood, Sweat & Tears, who is going out on a solo tour.

New acts are welcome to call, and anyone who wants to find out more about the agency can visit the website rhematalentagency.com. All genres are welcome, too, such as the Latin ska band he said he’s worked with for a while and is trying to get.

“It just depends on what it is and the talent level and production and professionalism and stuff like that,” Williams said. “We will take on new people as we can, and if it’s a good fit.”