Dar Williams
Encyclopedia
Dar Williams is an American
singer-songwriter
specializing in pop folk.
She is a frequent performer at folk festival
s and has toured with such artists as Mary Chapin Carpenter
, Patty Griffin
, Ani DiFranco
, The Nields
, Shawn Colvin
, Girlyman
, Joan Baez
, and Catie Curtis
.
, and grew up in Chappaqua
with two older sisters, Meredith and Julie. Her nickname "Dar" originated due to a mispronunciation of "Dorothy" by one of Williams's sisters. Recently, in an interview with WUKY radio, Dar said her parents wanted to name her Darcy, after the character in Pride and Prejudice
, and that they intentionally called her "Dar-Dar", which she shortened to "Dar" in school.
In interviews, she has described her parents as "liberal
and loving" people who early on encouraged a career in songwriting. Williams began playing the guitar at age nine and wrote her first song two years later. However, she was more interested in drama
at the time, and majored in theater and religion
at Wesleyan University
.
Williams moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1990 to further explore a career in theater. She worked for a year as stage manager of the Opera Company of Boston
, but on the side began to write songs, record demo tapes, and take voice lessons. Her voice teacher encouraged her to try performing at coffeehouses, but her early years performing were made difficult by the intimidating nature of the Boston folk music
scene, as well as her own battle with stage fright
. In 1993 Williams moved to Northampton, Massachusetts
.
Early in Williams's music career, she opened for Joan Baez
, who would make her relatively well known by recording some of her songs (Williams also dueted with Baez on Ring Them Bells
). Her growing popularity has since relied heavily on community coffeehouses, public radio, and an extensive fan base on the Internet.
Williams recorded her first full album, The Honesty Room
, under her own label, Burning Field Music. Guest artists included Nerissa and Katryna Nields
, Max Cohen and Gideon Freudmann
. The album was briefly distributed by Chicago-based Waterbug Records
. Williams soon secured a licensing-and-distribution deal for Burning Field with Razor and Tie, and in 1995 reissued the album on that label, with two re-recorded bonus tracks. The record went on to become one of the top-selling independent folk albums of the year. 1996's Mortal City
, also licensed and distributed with Razor and Tie, received substantial notice, partially due to the fact that it coincided with her tour with Baez. The album again featured guest appearances by the Nields sisters and Freudmann, as well as noted folk artists John Prine
, Cliff Eberhardt
and Lucy Kaplansky
. With that success, Razor & Tie re-released The Honesty Room. By the time of her third release, End of The Summer
(1997), Williams' career had gathered substantial momentum, and the album did remarkably well, given its genre and independent label status.
In 1998, Williams, Richard Shindell
and Lucy Kaplansky
formed the group Cry Cry Cry
as a way to pay homage to some of their favorite folk artists. The band released an eponymous album of covers and toured from 1998 to 2000.
She has since released five more studio albums on the Razor & Tie label (The Green World
(2000), The Beauty of the Rain
(2003), My Better Self
(2005), Promised Land
(2008)), and Many Great Companions (2010), as well as two live albums (Out There Live
(2001) and Live at Bearsville Theater
(2007)).
Williams has lent her talent and support to various causes, founding the Snowden Environmental Trust and taking part in many benefit concerts. She performed in a show at Alcatraz with Baez and the Indigo Girls
, to benefit the prisoner-rights group Bread and Roses
.
As someone who has toured a great deal of the time and had trouble finding suitable dining on the road, Williams was inspired to write and publish a directory of natural food stores and restaurants called The Tofu Tollbooth in 1994. In 1998 Williams co-authored a second edition with Elizabeth Zipern.
On May 4, 2002, she married Michael Robinson, an old friend from college. Their son, Stephen Gray Robinson, was born on April 24, 2004. She currently resides in Cold Spring, New York
.
Williams wants her music to be an "efficient career," something she can do her entire life. She strives to accomplish this by "continuously court[ing] your muse
; to keep writing stuff that feels risky about things you believe in, that you're really feeling."
, adolescence
, gender
issues, anti-commercialism, misunderstood relationships, loss
, humor, and geography.
Williams' early work spoke clearly of her upbringing in 1970s and 80s suburbia
-- of alienation
, and the hypocrisy
evident in the post-WWII
middle class
. On the track "Anthem" on her early tape All My Heroes Are Dead
, she sang, "I know there's blood in the pavement and we've turned the fields to sand."
Williams' songs often address gender typing, roles, and inequities. "You're Aging Well" on The Honesty Room
discusses adolescent body image, ageism
and self-loathing in excruciating detail. The song ended with the singer finding an unnamed female mentor who pointed her toward a more enlightened and mature point of view. Joan Baez
covered the song in concert and later dueted with Williams on tours.
A 2001 article in The Advocate
discussed Williams' popularity among LGBT
people, writing that among LGBT-supportive straight songwriters, "few manage in their lyrics to dig as deeply or as authentically as... Williams does".
"When I Was a Boy", also on The Honesty Room, uses Williams' own childhood experiences as a tomboy
to muse on gender roles and how they limit boys and girls, who then become limited men and women.
"The Christians and Pagans" on Mortal City
simultaneously tackles both religion
and sexual orientation
through a tale of a lesbian/pagan couple that chooses to spend solstice
with the devout Christian
uncle of one of the women, thus creating a situation where people who would oppose each other on almost every political and cultural front try to get by on pure politeness. Throughout the song, the family members begin to discover their differences need not estrange them from one another.
In an interview in 2007 on the Food Is Not Love podcast
, she said that the song "February" from Mortal City was one of her songs that she liked best. She referred to the way the song "kept on evolving into, not only what I wanted to say, but what I wanted to say and didn't even know was in there." She liked the way the song "kept on breaking its own rules in a way that art is all about."
Williams' relationship with her family is hinted at through several songs, perhaps most notably in "After All" off The Green World
. The song appears to deal mainly with her depression at the age of twenty-one, referring to it as a "winter machine that you go through" repeatedly while "everyone else is spring-bound."
Her song "As Cool As I Am" has become part of Bryn Mawr College's traditional May Day, in which the song is played during the "May Hole" celebration. The song is even called an "unofficial anthem" for the school. Dar Williams has visited the college several times to perform at concerts.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
specializing in pop folk.
She is a frequent performer at folk festival
Folk festival
A Folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music.-Canada:Alberta*Calgary Folk Music Festival*Canmore Folk Music Festival*Edmonton Folk Music Festival*Jasper Folk Festival*Wild Mountain Music FestOntario*Barriefolk...
s and has toured with such artists as Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
, Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
, Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
, The Nields
The Nields
The Nields was a folk-rock band that performed from 1991 to 2001. It toured much of the United States, performing with artists such as Dar Williams, Moxy Früvous, and Catie Curtis and appeared at many folk festivals...
, Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
, Girlyman
Girlyman
Girlyman is an American folk-rock band formerly based in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, now based in Atlanta, Georgia.Their self-released debut album, Remember Who I Am, sold 5,000 copies before it was re-released by Daemon Records, the independent record label run by Amy Ray of the Indigo...
, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, and Catie Curtis
Catie Curtis
Catie Curtis is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has been categorized in several genres, including pop, rock, alternative country, indie and folk. She has recorded 11 CDs. The most recent, Stretch Limousine On Fire, will be released in August 2011 on Compass Records.-Early life:Catie...
.
Biography
Williams was born in Mount Kisco, New YorkMount Kisco, New York
Mount Kisco is a community that is both a village and a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,877 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, and grew up in Chappaqua
Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in northern Westchester County, New York. As of the 2010 census, following a major revision to the delineation of its boundaries by the Census Bureau, the population was 1,436...
with two older sisters, Meredith and Julie. Her nickname "Dar" originated due to a mispronunciation of "Dorothy" by one of Williams's sisters. Recently, in an interview with WUKY radio, Dar said her parents wanted to name her Darcy, after the character in Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
, and that they intentionally called her "Dar-Dar", which she shortened to "Dar" in school.
In interviews, she has described her parents as "liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
and loving" people who early on encouraged a career in songwriting. Williams began playing the guitar at age nine and wrote her first song two years later. However, she was more interested in drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
at the time, and majored in theater and religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
.
Williams moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1990 to further explore a career in theater. She worked for a year as stage manager of the Opera Company of Boston
Opera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
, but on the side began to write songs, record demo tapes, and take voice lessons. Her voice teacher encouraged her to try performing at coffeehouses, but her early years performing were made difficult by the intimidating nature of the Boston folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
scene, as well as her own battle with stage fright
Glossophobia
Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread...
. In 1993 Williams moved to Northampton, Massachusetts
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
.
Early in Williams's music career, she opened for Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, who would make her relatively well known by recording some of her songs (Williams also dueted with Baez on Ring Them Bells
Ring Them Bells
Ring Them Bells is a live album taken from Joan Baez' April 1995 shows at New York's Bottom Line. In addition to her own solo set, the album featured collaborations with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mimi Farina, Dar Williams, the Indigo Girls and Mary Black...
). Her growing popularity has since relied heavily on community coffeehouses, public radio, and an extensive fan base on the Internet.
Williams recorded her first full album, The Honesty Room
The Honesty Room
-Track listing:All songs written by Dar Williams.# When I Was a Boy# Alleluia# The Great Unknown# When Sal's Burned Down# The Babysitter's Here# You're Aging Well# Traveling Again # In Love But Not at Peace# Mark Rothko Song...
, under her own label, Burning Field Music. Guest artists included Nerissa and Katryna Nields
The Nields
The Nields was a folk-rock band that performed from 1991 to 2001. It toured much of the United States, performing with artists such as Dar Williams, Moxy Früvous, and Catie Curtis and appeared at many folk festivals...
, Max Cohen and Gideon Freudmann
Gideon Freudmann
Gideon Freudmann, described as a "cross-genre cellist," coined the term cellobop to describe his music. His live performances feature improvisation and the use of loop-delay effects.-Discography:*Fellini's Martini *Cellobotomy...
. The album was briefly distributed by Chicago-based Waterbug Records
Waterbug Records
Waterbug Records is a small independent record label based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois specializing in singer-songwriters and traditional folk musicians who do original research. The label was founded as an artist cooperative label in 1992 by singer-songwriter Andrew Calhoun. Calhoun described the...
. Williams soon secured a licensing-and-distribution deal for Burning Field with Razor and Tie, and in 1995 reissued the album on that label, with two re-recorded bonus tracks. The record went on to become one of the top-selling independent folk albums of the year. 1996's Mortal City
Mortal City
Mortal City is Dar Williams' second album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie.The songs "As Cool as I Am" and "The Christians and the Pagans" were released as singles in 1996; the former was also accompanied by a music video...
, also licensed and distributed with Razor and Tie, received substantial notice, partially due to the fact that it coincided with her tour with Baez. The album again featured guest appearances by the Nields sisters and Freudmann, as well as noted folk artists John Prine
John Prine
John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
, Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is a founding member of the Fast Folk Music Cooperative in New York City. Eberhardt joined Red House Records in 1997 and has recorded five albums for the label, the most recent in 2009, 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions...
and Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky is an American folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University.-Biography:...
. With that success, Razor & Tie re-released The Honesty Room. By the time of her third release, End of The Summer
End of The Summer
End of the Summer is Dar Williams's third album, released on July 15, 1997 by Razor & Tie.The album ends with a cover version of "Better Things," a song originally performed by The Kinks on their 1981 album Give the People What They Want....
(1997), Williams' career had gathered substantial momentum, and the album did remarkably well, given its genre and independent label status.
In 1998, Williams, Richard Shindell
Richard Shindell
Richard Shindell is an American folk songwriter. Shindell grew up in Port Washington, New York. He currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his wife, a university professor, and their children....
and Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky is an American folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University.-Biography:...
formed the group Cry Cry Cry
Cry Cry Cry (band)
Cry Cry Cry was a folk supergroup, consisting of Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams. The band released a single eponymous album of cover songs on October 13, 1998.- Tour :...
as a way to pay homage to some of their favorite folk artists. The band released an eponymous album of covers and toured from 1998 to 2000.
She has since released five more studio albums on the Razor & Tie label (The Green World
The Green World
The Green World is the fourth studio album by American folk music singer-songwriter Dar Williams, released in 2000.While writing songs for the album, Williams incorporated her ongoing interest in religion into the process...
(2000), The Beauty of the Rain
The Beauty of the Rain
The Beauty of the Rain is the fifth studio album by Dar Williams.-Track listing:#"Mercy of the Fallen" – 4:11#"Farewell to the Old Me" – 2:45#"I Saw a Bird Fly Away" – 2:51#"The Beauty of the Rain" – 3:00...
(2003), My Better Self
My Better Self
My Better Self is a Dar Williams' album which was released on September 13, 2005 by Razor & Tie.-Track listing:All songs are by Dar Williams if not noted otherwise.#"Teen for God" – 3:28#"I'll Miss You Till I Meet You" – 4:27...
(2005), Promised Land
Promised Land (Dar Williams album)
Promised Land is a Dar Williams album released September 9, 2008 on Razor & Tie, the label that has released almost all of her albums. It was her first studio album in three years.-Track listing:...
(2008)), and Many Great Companions (2010), as well as two live albums (Out There Live
Out There Live
-Track listing:All songs by Dar Williams, except as noted.# As Cool as I Am 3:47# If I Wrote You 4:05# Spring Street 5:00# I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono Intro 2:13# I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono 3:37# February 3:57# The Ocean 5:20# Better Things 3:02...
(2001) and Live at Bearsville Theater
Live at Bearsville Theater
Live at Bearsville Theater is a live album and DVD release from Dar Williams. It is her second live album, after 2001's Out There Live.-Track listing:...
(2007)).
Williams has lent her talent and support to various causes, founding the Snowden Environmental Trust and taking part in many benefit concerts. She performed in a show at Alcatraz with Baez and the Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
, to benefit the prisoner-rights group Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses
The slogan "Bread and Roses" originated in a poem of that name by James Oppenheim, published in The American Magazine in December 1911, which attributed it to "the women in the West." It is commonly associated with a textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts during January-March 1912, now often...
.
As someone who has toured a great deal of the time and had trouble finding suitable dining on the road, Williams was inspired to write and publish a directory of natural food stores and restaurants called The Tofu Tollbooth in 1994. In 1998 Williams co-authored a second edition with Elizabeth Zipern.
On May 4, 2002, she married Michael Robinson, an old friend from college. Their son, Stephen Gray Robinson, was born on April 24, 2004. She currently resides in Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring is a village located in the Town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York. The population was 1,983 at the 2000 census. It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville...
.
Dar Williams on songwriting
Williams writes from personal experience, and many of her songs are based on people she grew up with. She doesn't force herself to write, which is an approach she learned in college when she decided that whatever she could do at any given time was enough. She prides herself on having songs that all came from some kind of inspiration.Williams wants her music to be an "efficient career," something she can do her entire life. She strives to accomplish this by "continuously court[ing] your muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
; to keep writing stuff that feels risky about things you believe in, that you're really feeling."
Songs
Recurrent themes in Williams's songs include religionReligion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
, gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
issues, anti-commercialism, misunderstood relationships, loss
Grief
Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions...
, humor, and geography.
Williams' early work spoke clearly of her upbringing in 1970s and 80s suburbia
SubUrbia
subUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
-- of alienation
Social alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
, and the hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
evident in the post-WWII
Post-World War II baby boom
The end of World War II brought a baby boom to many countries, especially Western ones. There is some disagreement as to the precise beginning and ending dates of the post-war baby boom, but it is most often agreed to begin in the years immediately after the war, ending more than a decade later;...
middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
. On the track "Anthem" on her early tape All My Heroes Are Dead
All My Heroes Are Dead
All My Heroes Are Dead is an album by Dar Williams. This is only available in cassette format. Many of these tapes were sold at Dar's shows early on in her career...
, she sang, "I know there's blood in the pavement and we've turned the fields to sand."
Williams' songs often address gender typing, roles, and inequities. "You're Aging Well" on The Honesty Room
The Honesty Room
-Track listing:All songs written by Dar Williams.# When I Was a Boy# Alleluia# The Great Unknown# When Sal's Burned Down# The Babysitter's Here# You're Aging Well# Traveling Again # In Love But Not at Peace# Mark Rothko Song...
discusses adolescent body image, ageism
Ageism
Ageism, also called age discrimination is stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination...
and self-loathing in excruciating detail. The song ended with the singer finding an unnamed female mentor who pointed her toward a more enlightened and mature point of view. Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
covered the song in concert and later dueted with Williams on tours.
A 2001 article in The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
discussed Williams' popularity among LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
people, writing that among LGBT-supportive straight songwriters, "few manage in their lyrics to dig as deeply or as authentically as... Williams does".
"When I Was a Boy", also on The Honesty Room, uses Williams' own childhood experiences as a tomboy
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
to muse on gender roles and how they limit boys and girls, who then become limited men and women.
"The Christians and Pagans" on Mortal City
Mortal City
Mortal City is Dar Williams' second album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie.The songs "As Cool as I Am" and "The Christians and the Pagans" were released as singles in 1996; the former was also accompanied by a music video...
simultaneously tackles both religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
through a tale of a lesbian/pagan couple that chooses to spend solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
with the devout Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
uncle of one of the women, thus creating a situation where people who would oppose each other on almost every political and cultural front try to get by on pure politeness. Throughout the song, the family members begin to discover their differences need not estrange them from one another.
In an interview in 2007 on the Food Is Not Love podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, she said that the song "February" from Mortal City was one of her songs that she liked best. She referred to the way the song "kept on evolving into, not only what I wanted to say, but what I wanted to say and didn't even know was in there." She liked the way the song "kept on breaking its own rules in a way that art is all about."
Williams' relationship with her family is hinted at through several songs, perhaps most notably in "After All" off The Green World
The Green World
The Green World is the fourth studio album by American folk music singer-songwriter Dar Williams, released in 2000.While writing songs for the album, Williams incorporated her ongoing interest in religion into the process...
. The song appears to deal mainly with her depression at the age of twenty-one, referring to it as a "winter machine that you go through" repeatedly while "everyone else is spring-bound."
Her song "As Cool As I Am" has become part of Bryn Mawr College's traditional May Day, in which the song is played during the "May Hole" celebration. The song is even called an "unofficial anthem" for the school. Dar Williams has visited the college several times to perform at concerts.
Later work
Williams' recent albums are characterized by more lush arrangements, guest artists, movement away from the tropes and techniques of folk song-writing.Albums, EPs
- I Have No HistoryI Have No HistoryI Have No History is an album by Dar Williams. It is only available, if one can find it, in an original cassette format. Reportedly there are only 200 copies of this tape out in circulation; most of which were given to Dar's friends and family....
(1990 - rare demo tape) - All My Heroes Are DeadAll My Heroes Are DeadAll My Heroes Are Dead is an album by Dar Williams. This is only available in cassette format. Many of these tapes were sold at Dar's shows early on in her career...
(1991 - rare demo tape) - The Honesty RoomThe Honesty Room-Track listing:All songs written by Dar Williams.# When I Was a Boy# Alleluia# The Great Unknown# When Sal's Burned Down# The Babysitter's Here# You're Aging Well# Traveling Again # In Love But Not at Peace# Mark Rothko Song...
(1995) - The Christians and the PagansThe Christians and the PagansThe Christians and the Pagans is an EP by Dar Williams released as a holiday bonus by Razor and Tie. It is also the name of a song by the same artist from the subsequent album Mortal City.-Characters:* Amber - The main character...
(1996 - EP) - Mortal CityMortal CityMortal City is Dar Williams' second album, released in January 1996 by Razor & Tie.The songs "As Cool as I Am" and "The Christians and the Pagans" were released as singles in 1996; the former was also accompanied by a music video...
(1996) - End of The SummerEnd of The SummerEnd of the Summer is Dar Williams's third album, released on July 15, 1997 by Razor & Tie.The album ends with a cover version of "Better Things," a song originally performed by The Kinks on their 1981 album Give the People What They Want....
(1997) - What Do You Hear in These Sounds (1997, single)
- Cry Cry CryCry Cry Cry (band)Cry Cry Cry was a folk supergroup, consisting of Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams. The band released a single eponymous album of cover songs on October 13, 1998.- Tour :...
(1998, with Richard ShindellRichard ShindellRichard Shindell is an American folk songwriter. Shindell grew up in Port Washington, New York. He currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his wife, a university professor, and their children....
and Lucy KaplanskyLucy KaplanskyLucy Kaplansky is an American folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University.-Biography:...
) - The Green WorldThe Green WorldThe Green World is the fourth studio album by American folk music singer-songwriter Dar Williams, released in 2000.While writing songs for the album, Williams incorporated her ongoing interest in religion into the process...
(2000) - Out There LiveOut There Live-Track listing:All songs by Dar Williams, except as noted.# As Cool as I Am 3:47# If I Wrote You 4:05# Spring Street 5:00# I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono Intro 2:13# I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono 3:37# February 3:57# The Ocean 5:20# Better Things 3:02...
(2001) - The Beauty of the RainThe Beauty of the RainThe Beauty of the Rain is the fifth studio album by Dar Williams.-Track listing:#"Mercy of the Fallen" – 4:11#"Farewell to the Old Me" – 2:45#"I Saw a Bird Fly Away" – 2:51#"The Beauty of the Rain" – 3:00...
(2003) - My Better SelfMy Better SelfMy Better Self is a Dar Williams' album which was released on September 13, 2005 by Razor & Tie.-Track listing:All songs are by Dar Williams if not noted otherwise.#"Teen for God" – 3:28#"I'll Miss You Till I Meet You" – 4:27...
(2005) - Live at Bearsville TheaterLive at Bearsville TheaterLive at Bearsville Theater is a live album and DVD release from Dar Williams. It is her second live album, after 2001's Out There Live.-Track listing:...
(2007) - Promised LandPromised Land (Dar Williams album)Promised Land is a Dar Williams album released September 9, 2008 on Razor & Tie, the label that has released almost all of her albums. It was her first studio album in three years.-Track listing:...
(2008) - It's Alright (EP) (2008)
- Many Great Companions (2010)
Contributions
- Women Live from Mountain Stage (1996) - "When I Was a Boy"
- Lesbian Favorites: Women Like Us (1997) - "As Cool As I Am"
- Hempilation 2: Free the Weed (1998) - "Play the Greed"
- Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women In Music (1998) - "What Do You Hear in These Sounds" (recorded live during the 1997 tour)
- Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (2000) - "Highway Patrolman"
- ProvidenceProvidence (TV series)Providence is an American drama series that aired on NBC starring Melina Kanakaredes. The show ran for five seasons from January 8, 1999 until December 20, 2002.-Synopsis:The show revolves around Dr...
Soundtrack (2002) - "What Do You Hear in These Sounds" - Being Out RocksBeing Out RocksBeing Out Rocks is a compilation album released October 11, 2002 by the Human Rights Campaign, in collaboration with Centaur Entertainment. Its release coincided with National Coming Out Day; "Being Out Rocks" was also that year's theme....
(2002) - "Are You Out There?" - This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul (2005) - "You Won't See Me"
- Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy CollinsBorn to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy CollinsBorn to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins is a tribute compilation album to American folk singer Judy Collins, released on October 14, 2008 in the United States by the record label, Wildflower...
(2008) - "Holly Ann (The Weaver Song)"
External links
- Dar Williams Official Site
- Dar Williams on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Dar Williams on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....