Knaak was born and raised in Austin, Texas. His father played piano and fronted his own band Mad Knaak and the Revolution, and also briefly played keyboard in The 13th Floor Elevators. His grandmother played violin, and his uncle was a guitar player. When Will was eleven, his mother died in a house fire. Upon losing their home, Will and his father and brother moved into an apartment in a different neighborhood away from his friends. Mourning the loss of his mother, Will isolated himself in his room and played guitar for several hours every day, learning songs by his favorite bands such as Tripping Daisy, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Offspring. Will's uncle introduced him to the music of Chuck Berry’s rock ‘n’ roll and country greats such as Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson, contributing to Will's unique blend of alternative rock and country guitar playing style. Will and his dad would often dine at the Broken Spoke restaurant in Austin, which hosted live music acts. After a performance at the Spoke, performer Guitar Lynn taught Will the blues scale on guitar and suggested he could use this knowledge to solo with blues bands on nearly any song. As a twelve-year-old, Will soon found himself sitting in at gigs with local players such as Charlie and Will Sexton, Doug Sahm, and Paul Ray of the Cobras. At age thirteen, Will joined the kid band RedHeaded Stepchild along with future Snarky Puppy guitarist Chris McQueen and other classmates. The group played western swing covers, and even wrote some original songs, releasing the album Deep, Wide, & Forever in 1998. Will graduated from Natural Ear Music School in Austin where his teachers included the legendary fiddler Alvin Crow and Texas MusicHall of Famer Johnny X Reed who both quickly invited him to play as sideman at their gigs, and immersed him into the deep history of the Austin blues scene in addition to adding the influences of 50s R&B and surf rock to Knaak's playing. After a year of playing weekly concerts with Reed's band The Nortons, and Crow's band The Pleasant Valley Boys, at age sixteen Will was fronting his own band, Knaak Attack, with bassist Silas Parker and drummer Vincent Ambrosone. Record producer David Dickinson caught one of their shows and offered to produce an album for the group, which they sold on CD-Rs at their shows throughout their formative years. When Will was fifteen, the mayor of Austin, Kirk Watson, declared May 24, 2000 as Will Knaak Day, which culimated in Will headlining an outdoor concert in front of five thousand fans at Auditorium Shores. He credits this as the day when he fully committed himself to pursuing a career in music and never looked back.
Music career
Will recorded his first solo album The Only Open Road at Shine Studios in Dripping Springs, Texas with producer Jeff Plankenhorn, longtime guitarist in Bob Schneider’s band. The set was mixed and engineered by Justin Douglas and released on Loungeside Records in February 2016. Knaak's band for the album included drummer Brannen Temple and bassist Yoggie Musgrove. Later in 2016 Will teamed up with a different group of players to recorded the EPWill Knaak & the Voodoo Exorcists which showcased a hard-edged sound heavily influenced by 90sgrunge, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lenny Kravitz, and Jimi Hendrix. Working with Lance Harvill as producer, the band consisted of Chris Gilbreath on rhythm guitar, Keith Long on bass, and Michael Ferguson on drums. In December 2016 Will's former teenage band The Knaak Attack played a reunion show and enjoyed the experience so much that they went into the studio and recorded an album, independently releasing it in May 2017. In addition to his solo work, Knaak has been an in-demand sideman and session player in the Austin scene for a diverse array of artists such as Pauline Reese, Jon Wolfe, Melissa Sellers, Jane Bond, Royal Southern Brotherhood, Jake Lloyd, Kacy Crowley, Liars & Saints, Alpha Rev, Grace Sorensen, The Statesboro Revue, Ernie Durawa of the Texas Tornados, rapper Nick Diden, and spoken wordpoet B. Harold Benton. He played national tours with acts such as Angela Peterson, Johnny Solinger of Skid Row, and Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers. Will joined Bowen's band for the tour in support of Bowen's 2014 self-titled album, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Knaak then played banjo and guitar on Bowen and Rogers’ 2015 collaborative album Hold My Beer Vol. 1 which peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Country albums chart, and number 3 on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart. He also played on the album's supporting tour "Hold My Beer and Watch This!" and continued to be a member of Bowen's band until 2018. Inspired by the birth of his daughter, and unable to tour during the COVID-19 pandemic, Will recorded a solo album Live in Lockdown Vol. 1 which he released via Bandcamp on June 23, 2020.
Blue October
Through his extensive session work, Will befriended local producer and studio owner Matt Noveskey. When Noveskey's band Blue October found themselves in need of a guitarist in February 2018, Knaak jumped at the opportunity. His first studio work with the band was on the song "King" for their ninth studio album I Hope You're Happy which reached number 28 on the Billboard 200. He also appeared in the music video for the single "Daylight". He toured North America and Europe for Blue October's I Hope You’re Happy tour in 2018–2019, and his first album with the group, Live From Manchester was released in November 2019. Along with Noveskey and Blue October's drum technician Charley Seiss, Will is also a member of the Ryan Delahoussaye-fronted side projectThe Meeting Place, which played their first shows in August 2019. In 2020 Will played lead guitar on Blue October's tenth album This is What I Live For. He also contributed guitar to Matt Noveskey's album Icarus Bell.
Personal life
In 2019, Knaak wrote and released the song "O Miss Emily", dedicated to his fiancée Emily. The couple welcomed their first child, a girl, in April 2020.
