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| Dar Williams (Photo: Amy Dickerson) |
By Tara Lynn Johnson
They’re not concerts – they’re “connections” for musician/singer/songwriter Dar Williams.
She’ll be connecting with audiences at the
New Hope Winery
on Sunday, Dec. 22. She’s soon to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her
first album, “The Honesty Room,” so a couple of tunes from that CD may
make an appearance. She’ll also feature songs from her 2012 release “In
the Time of Gods” and songs related to the holidays.
She’s looking forward to the shows, but even more to simply being among people enjoying music.
“You have the potential to create this relationship and you can feel
it when it’s happening,” she said during our telephone conversation on
December 12.
Even after more than 20 years, she’s not tired of it.
“There are rarely days when it doesn’t feel right,” she said. “I love performing.”
For a brief time in the mid-2000s, it felt wrong, though. She said
everyone on her tour then was in a collective bad mood. The record
industry was in turmoil, “but we didn’t see it coming,” she said. “There
were about 10 concerts where it felt like work. I thought if this keeps
up, I’ll quit.”
Not long after, she played a small venue in Quebec. The audience was
laughing, having a good time. The windows steamed up; it was snowing
outside. She previously had been terrified of that kind of intimacy with
a smaller audience.
“But all that potential that could happen with an audience is the thing that keeps me on the stage now,” she said.
Growing up in New York state, Dar planned on being a playwright. When
she moved to Boston in the early 1990s, though, the scene was all about
music. She took it all in while working as an opera company stage
manager.
“There was a lot of alt rock and punk, folk, even classical music
happening,” she said. “I followed the music and secretly had enough
passion about it that when I surfaced I could hang with the crowd.”
Since then, she has performed around the world and released more than
11 CDs (and EPs). The latest (“Gods”) emerged from an exploration of
power, folly, hubris, and civilization, she said.
Sometimes, when writing, she gets a hit of inspiration and works on
something excitedly, but if it’s not working, she puts the pen down, she
said. She tries to put herself in a place to be inspired, but she
doesn’t sit down with a blank page every day. Sometimes, when she’s
stuck, she looks to nature.
“I’ll open the curtains and see the mist on the mountain and that
it’s a beautiful day,” she said. “I will feel connected and find
something that helps me feel excited.”
And sometimes, she writes with friends, like Rob Hyman, co-founder of
The Hooters. Dar and Rob have worked together on several of her albums.
He co-wrote four songs on “Gods” and played various keyboards and
accordion.
“Rob is so patient. When I feel like I’m tied up in a knot, he’ll
quietly sit there and play what we’ve already done and add a new chord
or new perspective,” she said. “He’s the perfect collaborative partner.
He’s been my muse on more than one occasion.”
Rob loves working with her and he’s impressed with her talent.
“Songwriting can be painful and prolonged sometimes, but never with
Dar. She’s a terrific guitarist with a lovely and expressive voice and
has a keen and confident sense of melody. She also has a great instinct
for what works and what doesn’t,” he said via e-mail. “But one of her
biggest strengths is her way with words. Her lyrics are consistently
interesting, unusual, intriguing, [and] challenging.”
When not collaborating, writing, or performing, Dar is home with her
husband, son, and daughter.
She’s stopping in New Hope one year to the
day that she last played the Winery and she hopes people will find
respite from all of the holiday hoopla.
She also hopes to bring light to the audience since it’s the weekend
of the Winter solstice marking the end of the longest nights and
shortest days of the year.
“This is a dark day that we can brighten up,” she said. “I hope people come out.”
Dar Williams
4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22
The New Hope Winery, 6123 Lower York Road, New Hope, PA 18938.
Tickets: $30-$40.
215-794-2331 or
http://www.newhopewinery.com/
