Dar Williams wants it real
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Singer-songwriter Dar Williams will perform at the Barre Opera House on Feb. 13. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Toolbox
By ART EDELSTEIN Arts Correspondent - Published: February 5, 2010
With an attractive alto voice, an on-stage presence that is warm and humorous, and songs that reveal a true wordsmith, Dar Williams is a welcome visitor to the Barre Opera House Celebration Series. On Saturday, Feb. 13, art 8 p.m., this Beacon, N.Y.-resident and her pianist/accompanist will make their first visit here.
Williams is no newcomer to acoustic folk-flavored music. She's appeared on nine albums since 1993's "The Honesty Room." She has seven solo studio CDs to her credit. An album that continually brings praise was her collaboration with Richard Shindel and Lucy Kaplansky on the seminal CD "Cry, Cry, Cry," which was a collection of cover songs. Shindel and Kaplansky both have previously appeared at the Opera House.
Williams, who was born in 1967, maintains a very loyal following at colleges and schools in the United States and Canada. Williams' music, style and appeal are familiar to those who enjoy women performers like Kaplansky and Shawn Colvin, who also recently performed here. Each is a fine singer, guitarist and songwriter.
These women represent the trend, not as evident as in previous acoustic music generations, toward writing songs that reflect their lives, relationships and the world around them. While Joan Baez was an early Dar Williams fan and took her out on the road and recorded several of her songs, she is not known for her songwriting.
On Williams' latest album "Promised Land," in the opening track, "It's Alright," we get a sense of her lyric/poetic abilities. It begins: "I know change is a bad thing/ Breaks me down into a sorry sad thing/ Not some iridescent grateful butterfly/ I'll resist with defiance/ Not the valor of a mystic silence/ I will fight dizzy spiral of goodbye."
Williams apparently has also hit a wellspring of support with her post-modern humanity. "Wisdom flows through her songs in delirious, wordy rushes of truth," wrote The New York Times.
Her work is popular and over the years has brought her considerable acclaim. Going back to an earlier time in her career, in her 1998 song "What Do You Hear in These Sounds?" an ode to therapy, became a popular song on MTV's channel M2. She once filled Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and here in America she became one of the top-50 grossing touring acts. She has been a high-charting independent artist on Triple-A radio as well.
Williams has been lauded over the years for the integrity and emotion that have been hallmarks of her sound. She also has what many describe as "a beautifully intimate, bell-clear voice."
Her most recent album, "Promised Land," includes several immediately engaging toe-tappers, such as "It's Alright," "The Easy Way," "Buzzer" and "Go to the Woods," as well as Williams' trademark thoughtful balladry, including the keenly felt "Book of Love," "The Tide Falls Away" and "You Are Everyone." While there is no backing band for this upcoming concert, the energy of these songs should shine through at the Opera House.
In the past, Williams' songwriting has located the personal in such universal topics as politics, religion, sexuality and family. On her newest album, however, rather than tie the songs together around any particular theme, she presents a collection of disparate stories and characters. She writes about trying to be open to major life change on "It's Alright," trying to take the high road in past relationships on "The Easy Way," the perspective that comes with age on "The Tide Falls Away," and the Milgram obedience experiment that took place at Yale University in the '60s on "Buzzer," a subject she recently said she has "been obsessed with since reading about it when I was 18."
In a published interview Williams says she draws inspiration from her home community. Her love of the folk scene stems from her admiration of its integrity toward honesty and real emotion, and a creative freedom not found in more popular music genres. She loves trying to use traditional methods to express the realities and foibles of contemporary life. She said she writes about what life is like, really like.